Wants and Needs
by Good Question
Summary: Akuroku, DemyxZexion. Roxas moves, meets the boy of his wet dreams. A pity he's straight. The story of two boys and the people connected to them and sexual awakening.
1. Minor Complications

**Good Question: **Revised Friday, August 22nd, 2008. And continue Feb. 12th 2010.

**Disclaimer: **At the moment I have NOT played past KH2. I know the new game is out for the DS, but alas, I do not own a DS.

**Chapter 1: **Minor Complications

**He **was young, smart, drop dead (with a bullet in your heart), gorgeous, the type of man that shows up in your dreams and his stamina is _endless_, even if you weren't sleeping. Yes, **he **was just that good looking, in the 'I will set you on fire' kind of way, sexually speaking of course. Oh he was such sexual chocolate. Not to say he was perfect, even **he **had his flaws. **He **had no musical talents whatsoever and a music taste to match. The moment Pandora opened her box must've sounded much more pleasant than **his **musical preferences. Tho', he did have long legs, very long legs, that looked masculine while having an unfair feline grace to them. **He **was on the track team and had been captain for the past four years, this being his last year. **He **was perfect. Well, almost. There was one minor bothersome detail.

**He **was as straight as _he _was gay.

Minor problem. Will be overlooked.

Rewind the story.

A young boy, with the mood of a man with dysentery, sat in the back of his aunt's van, his arms crossed and bright blue eyes hidden behind an angry squint. His parent's had begged for a relief from his 'antics' and thus he had been dropped into the care of his loving aunt, who of course, did not mind this 'could've told me a month ago instead of two days before' change in her life plans. When the boy had first heard that he was moving, he had almost thrown a fit. Just almost, he felt he had matured at least to the point where he could still comfortably enjoy the company of a select few stuffed animals but still above that kind of behavior. His parents, had sent him off with his aunt, of course thinking that the sooner he got to his new school and life and out of their hair, the better. Luckily he would only have to attend his new school for around a month before winter vacation hit in and he would have some time to get used to the new changes in his personal time.

His father had received a promotion and the entire family would've been relocated to Hollow Bastion, which resided on the other side of the entire continent but was in dire need of help, a recent unexplained earthquake had caused quite the uproar and general social upheaval. It would've been an added bonus that despite the poor conditions his father's new job would pay extremely well. At the first mention of moving however, Roxas had immediately raised a protest, in fact, if his parents hadn't outmaneuvered him he might've started a real one. There was no way that he was moving all the way out to Hollow Bastion, especially if the living conditions were to be so third rate, not that he meant to be spoiled. So, as a compromise to try and soothe over the drama they had agreed to let Roxas stay with his aunt in Twilight Town. Twilight Town wasn't the biggest city, but it was still better than Hollow Bastion, which would be undergoing reconstruction for quite some time.

"So…" he began, picking at the parking sticker at the back of van window, "why am I moving again?" His aunt sighed in the front seat, her manicured hands gripping the steering wheel almost as if it was going to pop off and leave the car straight out the window if she didn't. "We've gone over this so many times Roxas, 10, if not 30 times. I'm going to give the same explanation your parents gave you, they sent it to me on such pretty stationary. I'm not going to be any more insightful to you than your parents were."

Roxas grumbled something but decided to drop the subject and expressed this by slouching further into the back seat. Now, Roxas didn't really have that much of a problem moving away from Destiny Island itself, he was a growing boy and needed more romping room, the island had ceased to assume him quite some time back. The only thing that really set him on edge was that he was leaving his boyfriend, of two years, behind, and that thought wasn't comforting in the least, in fact, it was upsetting. "Maybe not," Roxas muttered as an after thought as he touched the loving, purple bruise on his thigh that his boyfriend had gifted him with before they had separated ways. In his boredom Roxas picked up the small, neatly packaged and folded brochure his parents had given him. It was mainly about the size of the school, the type of environment he would be attending, small facts about the town to help him familiarize, a boring brochure actually, in fact, the people posing for the pictures in the brochure looked just as boring. Then again, it couldn't be worse than Destiny Island.

His frown deepened as he tried to slouch further back into the seat, coming to the horrifying realization that if he tried to squish back any further he might attach himself to foreign objects lingering in the seat crevices. He turned his head back to glare at the seat as his hair got caught in a fold of a box. Roxas didn't notice until he had fully turned his head, a few strands of bright blond hair ripping out of his scalp. His eyes widened and narrowed just as quickly as a few curse words began to form on his lips, which he immediately swallowed as his aunt slammed onto the breaks in the middle of a busy highway. "Honestly!" she huffed, "what _has _she been doing with you?" his aunt sighed as she smiled with her frightening charm and waved cheerful apologies to the angry people behind them. Roxas glared at the fake, curly, brown head of hair and touched a finger to his scalp, almost massaging his head. Aunt Tina, she was easy to get along with as long as her mood was in the right order but god forbid something was a little out of line, even if she did have a natural 'talent' with kids. She was ambitious and a lot of the time a little bit overly caring in his opinion, another thing he added to his mental list of 'things that will suck and I need to be angry about'.

"Soooo," Tina said, drawing out the 'o' in the most cheerful way she could, "what do you think of your new school?" she asked, staring at Roxas through the rear-view mirror, her eyes never leaving his, which was awkward enough for him but he went ahead and assumed it wasn't exactly a safe driving idea either. He picked up the brochure again thumbed through it. "The principal looks like he could feed all of Africa, the school uniforms are like the McDonalds mafia created them, and their clubs are severely lacking in variety."

Tina laughed and sighed, "Oh Roxas. You'll be glad to know then that the particular brochure you are holding is a left over from **my **golden days at Twilight High. I assure you, things have changed quite a bit since I was there." Now _this _was news to Roxas, while he loved his aunt (despite their personality differences), he didn't really care about his new school and therefore had never seen a point in wasting his precious free hours finding out useless information about the school or the town. "You went to Twilight High?"

"Yes, long ago."

"I figured."

Tina slammed her foot onto the breaks once more and turned back to glare at Roxas, a strained smile placed on her red colored lips. "Were you saying something Roxas?"

"Nope. I was just thinking you looked particularly young with that new haircut," he said and breathed a sigh of relief as his aunt proceeded to drive normally once more, waving a set of 'oops, I stepped on the brake again' apologies to her fellow drivers. His eyes drifted away from his aunt's driving and back out the window, he wasn't exactly sure how he was going to handle his new life.

It was the first day of school and he had yet to be impressed, in fact, he was almost ready to spend the entire day in the bathroom reading stall graffiti because it seemed more entertaining. Roxas glanced at himself in the mirror and tugged at his orderly hair back into the spikes he naturally had. His mother, dear woman, had insisted that he try and make a good impression on the school and had ordered his Aunt to dress his up nice for it. His aunt hadn't been joking about the changes, the once public school had turned private, slapping the name Academy up to make themselves seem more prestigious, Roxas couldn't understand the different. There were still uniforms, same classes, same people, same boring everything, other than personal funding. Wouldn't it have been easier to stay a public school?

His uniform was an ugly tint of lemon yellow around the edges and his sleeves, the tie he had been forced to put on was a thankfully neutral color, but it clashed horribly with the suit, and therefore, fashion conscious Roxas had to ditch it. Somewhere far off from his list of priorities, the bell rang, signaling the end of their 3rd class of the day. He kicked the bathroom wall lightly with his polished black shoes with a gruff sigh, and headed out of the bathroom.

BAM!

That's when he met Demyx.

Roxas blinked, and gently opened his eyes, wondering who he had collided with, and why. It was a boy with a peculiar hair cut that seemed way out of it's time period, mullet like. He also had a blinding grin from ear to ear, and looked as if he was ready to spring on you any second that you weren't fully on your guard. The type of person that stole socks, _just because he could. _

"New?"

Roxas blinked at the boy he had collided into and nodded.

"Band perhaps?"

"Yes."

"Instrument?"

"Clarinet."

"Gay?"

"Flaming."

And thus, a close friendship was born. Roxas's outlook on the next few years that he might be stuck there changed completely. After a few brief introductions and sensual dusting, they were already getting along fantabulously. Demyx had live in Twilight Town his entire life and therefore was an advantageous friend for Roxas to make. If he had been left all on his own he probably wouldn't have been able to explore his surroundings further than the closest coffee shop and the fastest route to and from school. Demyx, was the decent sort, and a year older than Roxas, but still a junior, friendly, stubbornly sensitive, when he wasn't trying to act tough. He usually had a lot to say, his mind was constantly filled with new ideas and frequently stopped a thought to switch to a more interesting one, and he was hyperactive to the point where Roxas had begun to harbor a small fear of sweets. Demyx had a habit of being extremely blunt, but, contrary to the popular belief, was very perceptive. Only one person was known around the school to have been able to 'tame' any part of Demyx.

Zexion.

Zexion, a senior, had the ability to turn Demyx into a tepid puddle of adoration whenever he came around, a welcome relief to most. Zexion was the second person that Roxas had the pleasure to meet, but their introduction was significantly less creative. And as Roxas would learn over the course of the next week or so, they both liked early mornings.

"SO…." Demyx said mysteriously as he seated himself across Roxas, who glanced at him from his morning coffee.

"Mrmpf…"

Demyx laughed and tore apart his chocolate chip muffin, making a small stack of all the chocolate chips before eating them. "You looking?"

"For?" was his unenthusiastic response.

"A significant other, lover, or boyfriend," Demyx explained as he bit off the top of the muffin.

"No."

Roxas thought back to the short, sand blond hair, and the bright blue eyes he had left at home. The mischievous grin and the bone breaking hugs that left him crippled for weeks. The small words that made him cringe and hate at the same time it made him fall helplessly into a pile of goo, the distance between him and….

"Actually, yes."

"Most of the woodwinds are gay."  
"Most of the woodwinds are female," Roxas pointed out.

"Not important."

Roxas rolled his eyes and took another deep sip of his addiction, and _that's _when he saw **him. **There. The glorious physical manifestation of all of Roxa's wet dreams. A glorious, red headed, manifestation to boot. He had the most vibrant green eyes he had ever seen. Every ounce of him screamed confidence and pride in himself, weaknesses, and strengths. Roxas touched his tongue to his lips as he watched the boy move past people towards the lunch line to grab breakfast. A disgustingly fatty breakfast, Roxas noted. Then again, he looked like he needed the weight.

"Roxas, you're drooling," a new voice behind him said.

Ah, Zexion, the voice of reason and a frightening puppeteer among friends, actually, the puppeteer amongst everyone. Quiet, insightful, with an unhealthy addiction to mints. "Here." Zexion's stoic voice brought Roxas back as he took the napkin he had been handed.

"Axel's straight you know," Zexion pointed out.

"Minor problems. Can be over looked," Roxas muttered, captivated as a crowd of girls followed behind Axel.


	2. Equipment and Milk

**Good Question: **Updated/Revision started Feb. 12th 2010.

Thanks so much for the reviews guys. 3 Here's another chapter.

**Chapter 2: Equipment and Milk**

"AXEL! Pedestrian!"

Roxas screamed and clung to his seatbelt, his knees tucked against his chest, his body quivering.

"Breaks are for quitters!" Axel replied swerving to avoid the mother and her stroller.

"RED LIGHT! RED LIGHT!" Roxas screeched.

Axel chuckled and floored the gas. The small pink bug flashed through the intersection leaving a small trail of exhaust in its wake. With a 'woot' of joy, Axel did a donut in the empty parking lot across from Mickey's Macs and then abruptly halted the car in a parking place. Roxas flew forward in his seat, his head banging against the dashboard and his neck burning from the friction that the seatbelt had caused against it. Roxas whimpered as he drew back into the torn up seat. He turned accusatory eyes to the red head next to him.

"Come on Roxy, live a little," Axel commented with an offhand wave of his hand as he unbuckled his seatbelt, he didn't seem offended by the glare.

For the 12th time during their drive Roxas wondered just what he had been thinking getting into the car with a complete stranger. Yes, a hot stranger, but a stranger nonetheless. He thought he remembered there being programs against this type of thing in his youth.

"I always go for the crazy ones," Roxas mumbled as he got out of the bug.

"Did you say something Roxy?" Axel asked from the other side of the car.

"No." Roxas replied. "Why Roxy anyway?"

"'Cause it's cute. And you've got the eyes of a supah-stah. Now hurry up, Mickey's is pretty popular so the sooner we get there the better," Axel said with a grin that made Roxas do mental back flips into Sunday with a tissue in his hand.

With a sigh of defeat, Roxas followed Axel across the street.

Axel had been right when he said that the place was pretty popular. At first glance Roxas guessed that the entire population of Destiny Island couldn't measure up to the number of people crammed into the joint. While Roxas had been busy staring at the people, Axel moved on through the crowd leaving Roxas to fend for himself.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here."

Roxas turned around when he felt hot air on his neck.

Pink. A mass of pink. A wispy mass of pink. On a body.

"Uhm-,"

"Your new aren't you? You have to be. I would've remembered someone this cute."

The man reached out a hand and wrapped it around Roxas' waist, pulling him closer. "What's your name?" he asked, his lips brushing over Roxas' ear. A rosy smell invaded Roxas' nose.

Before Roxas had the chance to drop kick his molester the man was pulled away from him harshly, nearly sending Roxas tumbling after.

"Marluxia! Stop molesting little boys!"

Roxas looked up to his savior. It was a woman with radiant blond hair and sharp eyes. She currently had her hand curled firmly around a chunk of Marluxia's hair and was keeping him place.

"Sorry about that sweetheart," she said with the sweetheart sounding slightly cold.

"Ah… uhm. Thank you," he said steadying himself and taking a better look at the feminine man that the woman was holding in place.

"Roxas! Roxas! Where are- There you are," Axel ran up behind Roxas and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Oh. Larxene, what are you two doing here?" he asked noticing Roxas' two companions.

"Saving him from getting ass raped by Mr. Rose Cologne," Larxene replied finally letting go of Marluxia's hair.

"Oh okay. Wanna join us? Or are you two leaving?" Axel asked as he began to tug Roxas towards a table he had secured for them.

"We'd be happy to!" Larxene replied pushing Marluxia in front of her, Roxas sending glares at Axel's back. This was not good.

Roxas shuddered as he sped up his step to match Axel's. Roxas apparently did not posses super powers, as he had briefly hoped, because Axel hadn't caught on to his mental screams of horror at having to share a table with his molester. His heart beat quickened as he saw Axel stop at a table. They would have to sit down. Together. All of them.

"So, who are you kid?" Larxene asked with a smirk, sliding in across from Roxas. Marluxia slid in next to her, his eyes fixed Roxas.

"I'm Roxas Flabanooski." (1)

Larxene grinned and nodded. "Axel, be a dear and fetch us something to eat while we introduce ourselves."

Axel opened his mouth to protest, but Larxene's cold glare firmly drowned whatever protest he had attempted to make. He turned to Roxas and gave him an apologetic smile before disappearing into the crowd.

He would just have to fend for himself.

"Now Roxas. I think we need to properly introduce ourselves," Larxene said as she fiddled with a salt shaker. "I'm Larxene, and this is Marluxia."

Roxas nodded and kept a weary eye on Marluxia. 'You can't get AIDS from touching right?' he thought as he scooted back further in his seat to distance himself further from Marluxia.

"Don't be such a baby, Roxy. Marluxia's relatively harmless," Larxene smirked and scooted out of the seat, slipping past Marluxia. "I think Axel needs help carrying things."

"It's Roxas," Roxas mumbled sourly to himself as he watched Larxene go.

"So…."

Roxas glanced up at Marluxia. 'Oh… yeah…' He crossed his legs and stared back at Marluxia.

"Roxas. Where'd you move from? How long have you been here? Gay right? Available?"

It was a pity Roxas had a habit of being polite to strangers because otherwise he would've flipped the table and screamed 'Rape!' before running away. "Destiny Island. Almost a week. And I don't think I can share that information with you."

Marluxia chuckled and crossed his arms. He was enjoying this way too much.

"You're obviously gay. Either that or you naturally radiate 'I like bottoming'. Not that it has anything to do with you being obviously gay or anything. You're really cute Roxy-baby. You've got a nice figure on ya and a nice curved ass."

Roxas swallowed nervously as he lifted his arms to cover his chest, not liking the way Marluxia was eyeing him. He was too preoccupied with protecting his virtue that he didn't even bother to wonder how everyone he met just naturally assumed he was gay. It wasn't as if he had a man purse or anything.

"Marly! Carrying! Now!" Larxene shouted from the counter.

For a second Marluxia looked as if he was going to ignore her, but only for a second.

Nobody crossed Larxene; if they wanted to have functioning genitals. Roxas let out the breath he had been holding and let himself relax in his seat. A hand touched his shoulder and Roxas sprang out of his seat, his knees colliding with the table and sending him whimpering back into his spot.

"Woah! Roxy! Sorry, are you okay?" Axel asked as he circled around next to Roxas, genuinely worried.

Roxas flinched and turned to face Axel with a wry smile. "Don't do that."

Axel muttered a few more apologies before Roxas got tired of it. "Seriously. I'm fine. Just a bit jumpy."

"Marluxia?" Axel asked as he glanced to see what progress Larxene and Marluxia had made with their food. They hadn't gotten very far.

"The molester."

"Actually a pedophile. You are 15 right?" Axel asked as he lounged back in his chair.

"…. How old is Marluxia?" Roxas asked instead. He decided not to answer Axel's question. He knew he looked a bit young but he was turning 17 in January.

"He turned 22 a month ago. Don't worry, you'll get used to him. He's a little odd but a reliable friend," Axel said in a tone that indicated the end of discussion.

'I don't want to get used to him!' was what Roxas had wanted to scream but it sounded as if Axel was already deciding that he was one of his friends and therefore should get to know his other friends. It wasn't as if it was a confession of love but it was a step-up and that made Roxas happy.

"Food has arrived!" Larxene exclaimed, dropping the tray on the table.

Axel drummed a song on his steering wheel as he drove down his street, his red hair flapping in the wind coming in from the open window.

The day had gone pretty well in his opinion.

A successful adventure. For the most part.

Roxas had been less than happy about their fast food companions. Which was a shame seeing as Roxas was a pretty cool person to be around, or those were his predictions, and he was rarely wrong.

"_Axel…" _

…

"_Axel…"_

"_Axel!" Roxas hissed kicking him under the table. _

_Axel snorted into his Dr. Diz and bit his lip to keep from smiling. He turned around to face Roxas with the calmest smile he could muster. It was a hard thing to do._

"_Yes Roxas?" _

_Roxas' eyes shifted from Axel to Marluxia who was staring at Roxas over his 10 piece chicken nugget box like he was a chicken nugget, a very sexy chicken nugget._

"_He's touching meeeee," Roxas whispered, covering his lips with his hands, just in case Marluxia could read lips. _

"_Who?" _

_Axel almost lost it as Roxas' expression changed from flustered to forlorn. It wasn't that he wanted to torture his new friend but Roxas was adorable when he was out of his comfort zone. It was a hobby of his that he could indulge in like a kid in a candy factory with Roxas._

"_You know wh-" _

_Roxas squealed and sprang out of his seat, sending his fries flying over the table. Axel broke out laughing as he watched Roxas cover his crotch with his hands. He glanced under the table and watched Marluxia's hands retreat back over to their side of the table. _

"_I wanna go home." Axel was about to protest but the sharp look in Roxas' eyes told him he should swallow whatever protest he had. Damn. _

"_All right," Axel said raising his hands in defeat. "See ya later Marly, Larxene." _

_Roxas sighed in relief as he walked ahead of Axel back to the car. "You're a bad man." _

_Axel grinned and ruffled Roxas' hair as he swung himself into the driver's seat of his car. "I __**am **__a bad man." _

"It's a shame he's not a girl," Axel commented to his reflection in the rear-view mirror. He could almost imagine him with a pair of nice knockers and a skirt. He wasn't sure what had possessed him to ask the new kid to join him for lunch. He supposed it was because he had been new once too and remember how his seniors had given him a leg up into the new world. Besides, if Zexion and Demyx liked him then that was a nice voice of confidence. It had been a lunch time accident that had truly brought Roxas to his attention.

'_The milk is really delicious today, such strong chocolate flavors that glide smoothly down my throat'. _

_Axel was completely enveloped in his chocolate milk. The school had changed to a different provider and to his luck, they put their milk into those nifty cardboard containers, or plastic cardboard containers. _

_Either way, it was a good thing for him, and it made him happy. _

_And then he watched his happiness fly out of his hand, making a delicate arch, spilling milk as it somersaulted in the air. He reached out a hand to try and desperately save some of it. _

_Instead, he watched it land in the lap of a boy. _

"_SHI-"_

Axel passed his house twice before finally remembering to stop. He parked in their driveway, assuming his parents would stay overnight at the office. The annual independence celebration was coming up and his parents had more on their hands than ever. Axel slid out of his car and waltzed down the driveway, whistling 'Where's your head at?' as he went.

Before he even had a chance to touch the door knob the door flew open. Axel flinched and tried to take on a defensive position, his arms flailing, as a blur of a person tackled him to the ground.

"Welcome home Axel!" the blob on his chest exclaimed.

"Thanks Kairi," he said weakly, trying to breathe. He stared at the little girl on his chest and gave her hair a light ruffle. "Next time without the running tackle okay?"

"It's a glomp. Don't you know anything about pop culture?" the little girl asked with a 'know-it-all' stare. She was such a fucking brat.

Axel rolled his eyes, 'So much for sweet', and gently pushed Kairi off of his chest.

"Where were you?" Kairi asked as she watched her brother get up.

"With a friend, friends," Axel explained before taking Kairi's hand into his own.

"But I was hungry!"

"Don't they feed you in Elementary school? 'Cause if they don't we're wasting money on your education. We could just send you to work. They'd feed you there for sure," Axel asked as he led her inside.

"Lunch was two hours ago!"

"Speaking of which. Reno should be... was home. Why didn't he cook?" Axel asked as he dumped his things on the kitchen counter. Reno wasn't in his only, and usual spot on the couch, lounging about in his boxers.

"Because he doesn't cook good," Kairi explained as she lifted herself into the wooden chair at the end of the kitchen table.

"Of course he doesn't. He's a college student. What should we eat? We have to save some for Namine too," Axel said as he began to open cabinets.

"OH! Nami called and she said, she said, she was eating with a friends house," Kairi said, nodding her head vigorously to emphasize her point. Sometimes he wondered if she would make a good bobbly ornament one day.

"At a friends house," Axel corrected as he pulled out a frozen, ready made lasagna.

This was a usual occurrence in the household. Reno, although clumsy and slightly ... odd, was a hard worker when it came to something he liked and a while back he had helped out a friend keep their bar in business. He had enjoyed the work and now bartended and worked as a part-time bouncer with Rude, much of his time was devoted to the bar, their parents worried that he'd drop out of college but he assured them he had it covered.

Axel's parents were both successful and made a healthy amount of money.

Axel's mother worked as a manager for the children's and infants section of Twilight Fashions and Fad's (one of the most prominent companies in the country.) His father worked as an architect.

Kairi was the youngest sister, only in second grade. Namine was the second youngest and was currently in the 5th grade.

Because Axel's family was often busy and away he was left to take care of his younger siblings. Thankfully Namine was a much calmer and sensible person than Kairi was. Not that he loved Kairi any less.

"How long have you been alone? Reno should know better than to ditch you until I get home when mom and dad are gone," Axel asked as he set the temperature on the oven.

"Mom and dad leave me alone all the time!" Kairi cried, crossing her arms.

"No they don't. You just don't notice them watching," Axel said as he shoved the box into the oven.

"Hmph. You act as if I'm not mature enough to handle myse- OH! Axel! I drew something for you!" Kairi exclaimed as she ran out of the kitchen.

"I worry about her, she is not going to like the real world" Axel muttered to himself as he began to clean plates to use.

At the same time in Roxas's household the boy's aunt was questioning him. "Soo, how was your day?" Tina asked as she leaned over the couch to see Roxas staggering towards her through the hallway.

"I don't want butt babies."

Tina stared at Roxas before getting up and walking over to him. She placed a hand on her forehead and the other on Roxas' forehead. "No fever..."

"Don't make fun of me! I was violated!" Roxas exclaimed, swatting his aunt's hand away and clutching his crotch.

Tina gave a pout and pulled Roxas over to the couch. "Aaaw. My poor pooky, wooky, baby-kins, sugar cupcake, strawberry cheek, baby. Tell aunt Tina what happened."

Ignoring the nicknames he collapsed onto the couch and began his story, exaggerated hand movements and all.

By the end of his story, Tina was in tears.

"It's not funny!"

Tina giggled and manicured nails clutching her stomach. "Oh... oh... my stomach. If I was pregnant I would've blamed you for squishing my baby to death. Can't take it... anymore…Well... I wish you two happiness in the future. I have work to do," she said as she stood up, dusting off her suit.

"But I don't want butt babies!" Roxas cried out as he watched her leave.

He felt rather irritated that his aunt found his predicament amusing.

Grumbling about abusive aunts, and too gay to be gay men, Roxas made his way to the kitchen, stopping as he went to grab a fortune cookie out of a bowl on the kitchen counter. He pushed the cookie out of the wrapping and smashed the cookie against the table in irritation. He brushed cookie bits into his palm and tossed them into his mouth. He glanced at his fortune and crumpled it up.

"You have an unusual equipment

for success, use it properly. "

Axel had finished feeding Kairi and was finally allowed to hide in the refuge of his room. It was decorated with trophies of his physical prowess. Medals, certificates. There was even a pending full-paid scholarship in the works for him if he did well his senior year, and it hadn't gotten off to a bad start. Everything else in his room was a little plain, he didn't really get time to decorate that often. And he had nothing to decorate the room with. He tossed his shirt off and meandered towards his bed, pivoting and spreading himself across the bed. His mind drifted back to Roxas, now that boy, was an interesting find.

_Axel could feel an anger boiling towards him, coiling towards him like a great snake, and then changing and washing over him in a simple heat. He stared at the package that was staring up at him, somewhat emptily. He was in shock of course, the uniforms weren't cheap. He cursed silently and started apologizing, grabbing napkins and trying to pat the other boy dry. _

_He felt him tense as he lowered his hands to wipe off the milk and pulled back. He had offended him. It wasn't like himself to be this clumsy, maybe he really needed that extra 30 minutes of sleep, but warm showers were oh so good. _

"_Ah-, It's. It's okay."_

_Axel rubbed the back of his head, feeling awkward. "No, really. I'm sorry. I should've been paying attention. Let me make it up to you- uh?"_

"_Roxas."_

"_Roxas! Yeah, how about I treat you to lunch or something."_

_Roxas fell silent for a second and he feared that he had messed up again. Axel really didn't like causing trouble, especially ones that caused a significant amount of pants. He would never be able to get those stains out. _

"_Yeah. Of course. I mean sure, I guess. See you around?" _

_He sounded more confident. Good. Smooth. _

"_All right, I'll see you Roxy! I'll find you after classes, I'm hard to miss." _


	3. Get Some

**Good Question: **Revised Feb. 13th 2010.

**Notes: **As for the (1) bracket you saw in the last chapter, it's an explanation to his last name. Lol. Uhm, both R and A's last names are an inside joke between my sister and I and I'm keeping them there in honor of her. :b

**Chapter 3: **Get some

Roxas and Axel had grown closer since the fast food incident. Life had continued at the same fast pace that it had begun with for them. They didn't have any classes together except for one, a mixed P.E. group. Roxas was exceptionally happy to have Axel as a developing friend, he wasn't quite sure where he would peg them to be. The only problem was that sometimes his body decided just how delicious sex with him would be, and he had to spend a few minutes on his own usually after they'd hung out. He didn't want to freak Axel out and was very good at keeping it on the down low. The only sacrifice in this was his sex drive. Almost lucky for him winter had begun to set in, a sudden cold front hitting them, meaning Axel would be bundling up, skinny boys couldn't exactly walk around in shorts. The down side was that he looked so _good _in anything he wore. Like every clothing piece he wore was just very fancy wrapping paper for Roxas to impatiently tare off.

November was halfway done with and it had finally gotten colder. The weather forecast had promised snow for Independence Week. This sudden change in weather had given Axel's parents even more work to do in planning and changing plans,and Axel had found himself with less and less time to spend with his friends. Because of his parents lack of attendance he was left with taking care of his sisters in the mornings, meaning he couldn't eat breakfast at the lunch hall like he usually did.

Roxas, however, still came to school as early as he was forced. Tina had taken a liking to the energetic Demyx and the polite Zexion., much to Roxas' sleeping schedules misery. They were regular mornings guests that she was more than happy to invite over, leaving the waking up of Roxas the two and offering muffins and waffles in return from the freezer, or black coffee for Zexion. It had become a game for Demyx to see in which ways he could get Roxas to wake up and he kept a mental chart of his successes and failures and the repercussions that followed. Scary sudden noise equaled fist in the face while gentle tickling only earned a nipple pinch, and lucky for him Roxas was very clumsy when he first woke up and usually ended up missing.

Demyx tugged Roxas behind him as he walked with him towards the auditorium where they would meet Zexion, he had been the sole visitor to the household that morning because Zexion had school duties to attend to. Which wasn't too bad, it just meant that he had horded more waffles to himself. Zexion was on a few committees and was very concerned about building up a nice rep sheet to show colleges once he started applying. They had gotten about halfway there when a voice caused Roxas to stumble into an abrupt halt.

"Roo-xeee, baby!!"

Roxas turned and stared in horror as his molester, whom he had not seen in good long while since the terribly traumatizing fast food incident. He had almost managed to wipe it out of his memory completely, almost. The memory sat behind his brain with an acupuncture needle until he fell asleep and could subtly poke fear into his dreams.

"What is he doing here!! There has to be something illegal about this!" Roxas exclaimed, trying to find something to batter Marluxia with but all the objects nearby he wouldn't be able to lift. He almost abandoned his dignity and thought about crawling into one of the recycling bins.

Demyx wrapped a loose hand around Roxas and pulled him a bit closer. It wasn't that he would be able to do anything Or that he looked more intimidating. No, in fact, the two of them both looked very small and delectable, like little chocolates behind a window. The window being virtue and Marluxia holding a gigantic hammer. A really big hammer.

"You break my heart Roxy baby. You're not exhilarated to see me?" Marluxia asked, dramatically swishing his pink hair over his shoulders, he insisted it was natural but that didn't explain the dye boxes that Larxene kept finding hidden behind old shampoo bottles. He leaned in closer to Roxas and brushed a finger under his chin. "And here I thought we could catch up with each other. It's been far too long." He wiggled his eyebrows at this.

Demyx tried to turn a little to shield Roxas, but not too much. He himself knew of the balls tightening shivers that Marluxia's attention could bring. The night after the incident Roxas had called him and Zexion in a three-way call and explained his situation. Zexion had thought it of comical value but Demyx understood. Oh he understood.

"Quit trying to impregnate him. He doesn't have an orifice to push the baby out of."

"He could always just vomit it ou-" Marluxia lurched forward as Axel kicked him in the back of the knees, his arms flailing to catch his balance, his hands coming to rest on Roxas's belt of all places, tugging at it as he continue to fall.

"I don't want your babies!" Roxas screamed as his foot lashed out, kicking Marluxia in the chest.

He stumbled backwards not having had control of his movements at any point of the little fiasco, and Roxas had an unually strong kick. 'He should try soccer,' Marluxia thought briefly before he collided backwards into someone, sending them and himself tumbling to the floor. It was only his misfortune that the person he had stumbled into was Zexion, who, hearing the commotion had followed it to figure out what it was.

"Uh sorry," Marluxia mumbled as he stood up, wondering if he should offer a hand up to the younger.

"Zexy?" Demyx asked worried, noting the completely silent demeanor that ran over the boy's body.

Demyx released Roxas, gathering the situation and trying to think of a quick way to fix it and make it all go away. He bent down in front of him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek to try and rouse him. It did nothing but cause a small tremor in his hand that was holding a can of mints, well, a can that used to contain mints. They were all strewn about the ground, dirty and inedible. Diamonds to the poor.

"Zexy, Zexion?" Demyx repeated, nuzzling him.

Zexion gathered himself, blushing internally. He knew he had some issues but that they were flaring up like this…, then again, it had been a traumatizing experience. He'd have to go see his therapist again. He looked at Demyx and gave him a forlorn stare, "Minty freshness." His lip quivered slightly where only Demyx could see it. Zexion let his hands drop to his side and his head drooped, his hair hiding his eyes.

"I'm sorry?" Marluxia offered again, unsure as the exchange went on between the two.

Marluxia really didn't know Zexion so he wasn't sure how to try and offer the peace pipe. He could think of several ways to do it, but none seemed very appropriate for the situation, although his ideas would've been very very hot.

Zexion lifted his gaze and gave Marluxia a carefully constructed smile, "It's okay."

There was a small breath of relief. It wasn't that anything dramatic had occurred, a fight hadn't broken out, and there were relatively few people there. But some anxiousness had faded away. Axel and Roxas began wandering off, Demyx slowly trailing behind them with a weary eye focused on Zexion.

"Marluxia," Zexion whispered softly, his polished black shoes crunching a mint under his foot as he stood up. Marluxia leaned in a bit closer to hear.

"Hmm?"

"Sleep with a shot gun and don't shower alone."

Marluxia stared at the boy and then turned to run after Axel.

"Anyway… Marluxia, what are you doing here?" Axel asked as the man caught up with them.

It took a little bit for Marluxia to realize that he had been spoken to at all. He was thoroughly convinced that Zexion was mentally unstable and wondered why no one else had noticed. Don't people like that need an adult to walk them around the halls and all that? In his effort to run away from the youth he had almost stumbled into Roxas again, who flinched and almost took off in a sprint, this roused Marluxia out of his stupor.

"Huh? Sorry, wasn't listening."

Axel raised his eyebrow and tugged on Roxas' elbow to keep the younger boy from running away.

"I asked what you were doing here."

"Oh! Yes! I was going to come tell you first but I was distracted by something sweet," he said with a wink towards Roxas. "I'm a teacher here now."

"What?!"

Roxas had stopped with wide eyes, clutching onto the sleeves of both Demyx's and Axel's uniforms.

"I knew you'd be thrilled!" Marluxia exclaimed, quickly giving a shocked Roxas a peck on the cheek before heading down the hall. "Well, as lovely as it's been. I have to go check in now, tata!"

Roxas shuddered as his body screamed at him to rub the spot where Marluxia's lips had touched him into torn flesh, and even that wouldn't seem enough. "Sexual harassment by a teacher!"

Axel shook his head and sighed, patting Roxas on the back. "Please, give him a chance okay? He's just doing that to mess with you."

Roxas shook his head but let his battle spirit die down a little bit. After all Axel knew Marluxia more than he did. Although, he did seriously question the validity of the man teaching at all, especially with the behavior he was exhibiting.

Roxas sat with his legs drawn up to his chest, trying to generate more heat to flow in his body. Somehow he figured that with how tight he was holding himself he was just cutting off circulation and making it worse. In a dark fairness, Axel wasn't fairing much better than him.

"This is inhumane," Axel whined as he pulled his arms further into the sleeves of his gym uniform, which provided very little heat. The school had a stupid system of switching out their gym clothes seasonally, so that they didn't have both of them at the same time. Because of the surprise of the cold storm (usually the summer uniforms could've been worn for almost a month longer) the shipment had been delayed and confused, but they were told the packages were on their way.

Roxas nodded in cold agreement and glanced at Axel. He was wearing a white sweater, an approved substitute at the moment for their lack of uniforms. However, not everyone owned one and the clothing in the stores hadn't swapped out for winter clothing yet. Thanks to Tina Roxas an Axel were both graced with some sweaters, as thin and feminine as they were. They were unhappy because until today they had done nothing for gym except bookwork because their usual teacher had just had her baby a week ago and they hadn't been able to find a replacement teacher for their class. Not that Axel minded the work out, he knew the benefits and didn't mind the work, he just thought that dying to achieve good health seemed a little backwards.

"This is more than inhumane, it's illegal," Roxas muttered as he eyed their new 'teacher' with suspicion.

"Come on, Marluxia's not going to rape you on school grounds," Axel laughed, legitimately enjoying the situation. He hoped one day Marluxia and Roxas would see eye to eye. Roxas stared at Axel before trying to tug his shorts lower to hide his legs. He didn't feel comfortable with Marluxia as their teacher, especially when the uniform forced them to wear shorts until their sweats came in.

Roxas groaned into his knees as the whistle blew, signaling the end of stretches.

"Cheer up Roxy, only 34 minutes of class left," Axel said as he extended his hand to Roxas.

Roxas gave a small smile, praying that his pleasure at holding Axel's hand wasn't obvious, and stood. He supposed that from what he had seen Marluxia could actually be a little bit professional. He hadn't caught any glances as of yet from him, except for one teasing incident before class had begun.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it, stupid molester, always staring so lewdly," Roxas grumbled, tugged his shorts further down, as he began to jog around the outside track. He also gave Marluxia a little bit more credit for trying to get their class to be held in the gym, but apparently some more important school body had needed it.

Axel grinned and whispered into Roxas' ear as he passed him, "That's what you get for having a cute butt."

Roxas stumbled, his face reddening, as he watched Axel laugh and run ahead of him.

"Roxas! We're running not walking!" Marluxia yelled blowing on his whistle to signifiy the start of the 2-1-3-2 running schedule.

Roxas's breath came in puffs as they did the two minute sprint around ½ , if you didn't make it you had to jog for half a track more. It was an odd reward system set up by their sports committee for those with good health. Naturally he had fallen behind Axel, which he didn't mind too much, it meant that he could watch the other teen in some relative peace. Most people were too busy talking amongst each other, those that had the breath for it. The whistle blew for the minute walk break and Roxas found himself next to Axel again, who had already lapped him once.

"I thought you short people were fast," he said with a good natured laugh, his cheeks red from the blood coursing through him.

"You're just unnaturally fast," Roxas replied, entering into a leisurely pace, somewhere subconsciously thinking that maybe if he walked slower they could walk for longer. Which meant he could talk to Axel longer and that he didn't have to run for a longer time.

"You really should invest in an MP3 or something, I promise you it makes this entire ordeal so much better," Axel said as he slipped one of the sides of his headphones to the side so he could hear Roxas better.

They were pretty big DJ headphones, the ones with the extra base and noise cancellation. But Roxas didn't really care about that, his main focus was how right they looked on that head of red hair.

"Here, I'll let you borrow them for the class," Axel said as he slipped them off completely, having noticed Roxas's stare and mistaking it for fascination for the prospect he had offered.

Roxas stood dumbfounded as Axel dropped the pile into his hands just as the whistle blew for the next set of running.

He really needed to get laid.

**Ending Notes: **

Marluxia's Job- Those of you who think he's too young for a teaching job. I have two friends, one 23 who coaches middle school baseball, and another friend about 23-24 who is teaching a college math class at the college I go to. So it is possible, and it's my way of showing a little that Marluxia, despite his pervynes, is actually very intelligent.

Sorry for the chapter length, but I couldn't find a better way to break it down. But, good news, another one will probably be published later today. Or not. I'm trying to make the story flow better than it did the first time around. ._. Intro chapters just bore me to death so I have very little fun writing them.


	4. Jerking and Fucking

**Good Question: **Revised Feb. 13th 2010

Side Note: **Usually **the stories I write are a lot dirtier, grittier than this, so it's an interesting experiment for me. So sorry if it flows oddly.

**Chapter 4: **Jerking and Fucking

There was a delicious smell wafting through the house. The smell of fat and deliciousness.

"What are your plans for I-day?"

"Huh?" Roxas mumbled as he hit the pause button on his game.

"What are you planning to do for Independence day?" Demyx asked again, his voice almost drowned out by the sizzling of the pan as he added a bit more oil.

"Oh," Roxas said as he turned his head back to his game, settling himself more comfortably again into Zexion's lap. They had a wonderful setup. Roxas would be strewn across his lap, in between his legs side-ways, and Zexion would be over to read his book by keeping it in front of him on Roxas's stomach. "I don't know. Probably nothing."

"Nothing! You can't not not do anything!" Demyx exclaimed, peeking his head into the living room, his eyes wide.

"Too many negatives Demyx," Zexion commented, his hand brushing through Roxas' hair as he tried not to fall asleep having finished his book and feeling extremely comfortable in the couch. It was very cold outside and that Aunt Tina had a fireplace installed in the house quite some time ago was just perfect.

Demyx stuck his tongue out at Zexion and turned back to the food. "I figured you'd be doing something with Axel," he commented loftily.

Roxas stiffened and Zexion moved his arm behind Roxas, letting slide to hold him around the waist, his thumb brushing against his hip in comforting circles.

"Uhm… he's busy. He says he's got a date," Roxas forced out as neutrally as he could. He wasn't sure why he was so upset by it. They'd known each other for a few months now, barely even close friends, but a part of him that wasn't his libido had been slightly wanting to do something with Axel that day, especially since he was new to the town. Or at least that's what he told himself.

Demyx stopped his cooking and rushed into the living room, sliding over the back of the couch to give Roxas' a one-armed hug. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, nuzzling him, even if Roxas didn't know he needed the comfort. The three of them remained fixed in that position until Zexion pointed out that the food would be burning in a few seconds.

Demyx jumped up startled and hit his knee on the fortune cookie table as he rushed to the kitchen.

"You wanna go out with us?" Demyx asked as he saved the spaghetti in the pot from becoming complete inedible mush, and finishing up with the cooked meat and a side pan of sauce.

Roxas thought about it for a second. He would've loved to have gone out with the two of them. For sure he wouldn't have felt alone and it wasn't as if he was un-welcomed company to them. He knew that. It would be nice to have some company. But, as much as he would've enjoyed it, he knew Zexion had been looking forward to it and making secret plans. He rarely got to be alone with Demyx, especially with the addition of Roxas to their little happy family, and Roxas understood that.

"No, I'm all right. I'll probably do some family stuff with Tina. But thanks for the offer," he told Demyx and smiled a little bit as Zexion's arm tightened around him in a silent thank you and a promise to make it up to him.

He guessed it wasn't too bad not to be with anyone that day, it wasn't like it was a romantic holiday.

During the days leading up to the big day, he had noticed that everyone seemed to have someone to go with. Not necessarily as a date type thing but a group of friends or something. There were apparently going to be really big attractions and lots of alcohol for the people old enough to drink, and those smart enough to get some otherwise. He was slowly realizing that more than wanting to bump uglies with Axel all day long that his major disappointment was that he knew he would be spending the day alone. The moment Axel had told him that he had plans to go out he had realized that the best company he would have for the duration of the weekend would be his Aunt, lovely a person that she was, but that still wouldn't compare to actually doing something. For a brief second he contemplated calling his, well, now ex-boyfriend back on Destiny Island. That would probably cheer him up. Then again, in the end it would probably just make him heart sick. He eyed a poster as his frost bitten hands clutched at a hot Styrofoam cup of coffee.

_245th anniversary of Twilight Town's Independence! _

_Morning parade begins at 10:00 AM in the Tramm Common. _

_The annual Twilight Town show will begin at 6:00 PM in the arena in the Sandlot.  
Buy tickets now! Still available! _

_Evening parade and light show will begin at 11:00 PM! _

Only recently had Roxas been educated in the events that would be taking place. The morning parade was directed more towards children and the younger folk who would not be able to attend the evening celebrations. The tram's would not be operating that day so that the parade could use their routes. Then there were small events and shops set up and the large parking lot iced over into a large skating rink. At 6 would begin the play. It was an ice show in the arena that had been built a few years back especially for this event so that weather wouldn't hinder the performance. Roxas had been assured that the ice-show was highly entertaining. Although the factual likeness had been completely derailed since the play had been first performed it still depicted Twilight Town's independence from it's 'twin' town. Roxas wasn't sure how accurate it could be because there is no physical record anywhere of an actual second twilight town existing, or any battle for independence but he was assured it was simply the loss of records.

Roxas sipped at his coffee as he turned to watching the couples around him, enjoying specialty things for the winter season. With a soft sigh he dropped the money onto the table and signaled the waitress that he was leaving. As he walked along the streets, having exited the coffee shops as soon as he had entered and paid for it, he thought that he would've been better at handling everything if the spirit that the people gave the event wasn't so coupply. He had been adjusting to Twilight Town pretty well, things had been fast paced enough to where he hadn't had enough time to really mope around about it. But now that everyone he knew, and he realized he knew pathetically few people, was going to be busy he was getting some time to brood.

His thoughts drifted to Axel as he walked through the snow covered streets. Axel was still horribly straight and things didn't seem to be going in his favor with Axel's date coming up in a few days. Roxas fiddled with the scarf around his neck as he thought of calling his old boyfriend for the second time. Maybe there was a gay bar somewhere that he could slip into and find someone to go home with. But something told him that it would only make him feel worse at the end. Maybe calling him would be a good idea.

"Then again, it's not a holiday over there," he mumbled out loud as he walked up the incline that lead to his neighborhood.

Roxas wasn't used to being alone, at least not relationship wise. Around the time that puberty had kicked in he had started dating, it was easy for him thanks to his looks. So he had always had someone there It wasn't until after he had kissed a girl that he had realized he was gay. Or rather, after a few kisses, he wanted to make sure he just hadn't done it wrong. He also waited a few years, experimenting with both girls and boys who for the most part understood his situation until he was sure of where he stood. Unlike with most people his coming to terms with his homosexuality was easy, he had always suspected something like that anyway, and his parents were open minded enough to where it really wasn't an issue with his parents.

"Being single sucks," Roxas exclaimed as he kicked snow out of his path, sipping on his coffee. And he didn't even like coffee that much.

He spent most of the evening helping his Aunt decorate, who was thrilled that they would be spending the day together. She told him that there was a chance that she would get called away a few times for business reasons but other than that she was all his. Tina had lived there most of her life and therefore had fond memories of all the celebrations and decorations. Because it was so close to December, some people used it as an excuse to start bringing the Christmas decorations out. Tina was such a person.

Roxas was supposed to help bring boxes down from the attic, but for the most part he just sat on the boxes and stared out the window that had been installed quite some time back. Apparently the attic had once been an actual room but was now filled with insulation stuff and shining silver pipes. The only good part was that he could freely dig through all the stuff up there with the pretense of looking for decorations. His cellphone rang and he slid it open without looking at who it was.

"Hello?"

"That was fast," Demyx said with a laugh over the other end.

"Yeah well. I'm pretty bored. Aunt Tina's really into this decorating thing and she's sent me to the attic to dig up the boxes."

"Just be careful. You never know what you could find, like her porn or old vibrators."

Roxas paused for a second, he had the lid of a box slightly lifted. "I don't think she's capable of that." He began to open the box and found some old newspaper clippings in folders and stapled stacks of papers.

"How do you know that?"

"Because she doesn't have kids and she's never had a boyfriend," Roxas said as he sat back down on an old desk chair he had found in the corner of the attic.

"Maybe she's a lesbian," Demyx commented.

"I think we'd know by now, 40 years is a pretty long time to successfully stay hidden in the closet."

"The oldest gay at the moment is like, 79 years old I think."

"Huh, one they didn't stone. Maybe they ran out of rocks," Roxas said with dark humor. Just because he had never faced prejudice from his own family, didn't mean that he had lived with neighbors who shared the same opinion. He had spent some of his schooling career with his head smashed against lockers and his stuff stolen.

"Hey now, not all gay-haters throw rocks, some of them throw bullets. I think the rocks are a good way to go."

Roxas laughed and put down the stack of papers. He reminded himself to read it later, it looked like a thesis of some sorts, written by his aunt.

"Are you sure you don't want to go out with Zexy and me tomorrow? I really don't want to make it like we're shunning you."

Roxas smiled to himself, "Don't worry about it. Besides, I wouldn't want to third wheel your date."

He almost heard Demyx blush over the phone. Zexion and Demyx had been un-official, official together, in that everyone thought they were together and they made no effort to disagree with it. Zexion had of course asked Demyx out, and Demyx had non-verbally agreed, but Zexion didn't count that and he had decided that I-day would be when he would ask Demyx again now that they had been together for a longer time and both had a grasp of what their relationship would be like. "Yeah. Our date."

Roxas held in a laugh. Demyx was easily flustered and even though he tried to hide his excitement, he was genuinely looking forward to an official date-date. They hung out a lot, did things together, but they rarely had the time and freedom to go out somewhere just the two of them with the entire notion that this time was just for the two of them because of the two of them. It made Demyx's stomach flutter.

"Hey, listen, I gotta finish brining these boxes down, but let me know how the date goes, ok?" Roxas said as he heard his Aunt calling for him.

"Oh. Okay. Well, I just called to ask you one more time, and that both our phones will be on if you need us. Give your aunt love from me!" Demyx said as he hung up.

"_Tonight. Is the ni-ight. When two become one…"_

Roxas growled and thumped his radio clock, shutting it up. It was _the _day, and already the world was laughing at him.

"Roxy? You awake?"

Roxas mumbled a response as he scooted further underneath his covers. Tina walked up the stairs and barged into his room. She watched the lump that was Roxas for a few seconds before she walked over with a sigh. She seated herself next to him on the bed and tugged the covers off of him so that she could see his face.

"You okay?"

Roxas blinked and stared up at his aunt in confusion. Where'd that come from?

"I've noticed that you've been quiet lately, more pensive than you usually are," Tina remarked, "if there's something wrong, and if you can tell me about it, I'm here to listen."

Roxas didn't give her much of an answer but smiled anyway, "Thanks, I'm fine tho'. What's up?"

"All right. Anyway, I'm sorry I can't stay with you today. Someone at work called in sick and I have find a replacement for them, and until I do I'll have to go and take over. Either that or I'll have to call in Reno and hope he can work over-time, but he specifically asked for time off today."

Roxas lifted himself up in his bed, how many Reno's could there be? "Reno? As in Reno Sausagepanini? (2)"

"Actually yes. Why? Do you know him?"

"Not really. I just figured there weren't many Reno's around. A friend of mine's older brother is called that and I was just wondering if there was any connection."

"Well that's neat. Your social circle is growing, I'm happy for you. Anyway, I'm sorry. I cooked some breakfast, it should still be warm, but I have to head out. You're welcome to the house of course."

Tina gave Roxas a quick peck on the forehead and told him that she would be home late, all the while apologizing. Roxas grunted a reply and stared at the red numbers on his clock. He had been warned that there might be some issues,

'I wonder what Axel's doing.'

Demyx smiled to himself as he brushed Zexion's hair off of his face and gently ran his finger along his cheek. He looked so beautiful while sleeping. Some level of innocence that was lacking returned when he closed his eyes. Demyx knew that they had to get up soon or they'd never be able to find a good spot to watch the parade from, but for the most part he didn't really care as long as he could stay curled up like this.

"Demyx," Zexion whispered, wrapping his arm loosely around Demyx's naked waist. A part of their date-date had come a little early with both of their impatient natures.

"Mhmm?"

"The parade? We have to get up."

"I thought you were sleeping,." Demyx pouted and snuggled further under the covers, his hand idly hovering over Zexion's stomach, tracing pictures along his skin. Soft laughter made Zexion's body vibrate and Demyx's body tingle. He loved to hear him laugh.

"You woke me up."

Zexion forced himself up, he was quite comfortable lying in bed with Demyx, and turned to look down at the blond. Blue eyes looked up at him, a soft smile on his lips. Times like these he didn't really mind living alone. The moment he had been legally able he had gotten himself his own job and an apartment. A friend of a friend's uncle owned the entire building and he had gotten a good deal on the rent and such as long as he kept his part of he deal, which he had been. He was a very good tenant.

"Come on, we have to get going," Zexion slid out of the blankets.

Demyx stayed in bed and stared at him with a peaceful expression. He watched Zexion move across the room to the bathroom, still naked. Sometimes life was pretty damn good too.

Roxas had barely touched his food and was currently wrapped comfortably underneath some covers. He still Axel's headphones and MP3, he figured that either Axel had forgotten he had them or he was okay with him having them. He had his eyes closed and was gently bobbing his head to the drum beat that thumped against his ears. He figured he could've gone by himself to see the parade, but that didn't sound like much fun, mainly because he wouldn't know how to react if he ran into some of his few friends. They'd ask him who he was with and he didn't want to answer with 'no one'.

He then turned on the TV and flipped until he found a news channel. Most of the stations were featuring the event for those who were unable to attend. He lounged in the couch and stared at the news broadcast with dead eyes. He took the headphones off and changed the channel, grabbing a box of tissues from the table.

Fuck that. He was going to watch some porn.

By the time that Zexion and Demyx had reached the parade street it had already begun. But that didn't bother them. They climbed up on some of the rooftops as many other people had done, most of the buildings in the city weren't very high. Zexion wrapped his arms around Demyx, sitting behind him both of their legs hanging off of the edge. This was good. He had been a little worried that things wouldn't go the way that he had been planning. Certain dynamics had changed while he hadn't been looking. But he was trying his best not to have this changed their evening.

Axel sneezed and cursed, "Fuck." He hoped he wasn't getting sick. Not that he ever thought there was a good time to spend the day practicing death in bed but even though the track season wouldn't start until the summer, they had a few winter meets coming up that he couldn't be sick for. Track was a little bit of a big deal around the town, just like soccer or football was for other places.

"You ok?"

Axel glanced down besides him at his date. She was beautiful. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her tighter. "Yeah, I'm fine, just hoping I'm not getting sick."

The girl smiled coyly and snuggled into his arm. Axel went back to watching the parade. It was impressive, but then again it always was. There was a lot going on, then again the story of the towns birth was a pretty colorful one itself. He felt pretty content, but something was nagging him in the back of his head. He leaned back a little against the couch that had been placed to face the parade inside one of the coffee places. First come first serve type thing, inside seating for the parade. The nagging voice got just a little bit louder as his date, one of the hottest girls in town, curled up more towards his lap. The voice shut up as her face turned up to his, her smile causing him to grin. He was just trying to create problems for himself. After the parade Axel suggested they go have something to eat. She suggested that instead of paying for some place, she would cook and they could go to her house, her parents were out. They never got as far as the house.

Axel stared at his date captivated. She looked at him coyly and let her hand slip further up his thigh. She leaned over so that her shirt exposed her breast and nuzzled herself against his chest.

"I want you," she whispered as she let her fingers glide over his body.

Axel could feel his body responding to her touches and leaned back against the couch. Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. She grinned, her breath turning into fog as it left her mouth. She slipped her fingers under the top of Axel's jeans.

Axel let his head drop just as she brought hers up, sealing their lips in a kiss she practically drowned in.

"I love you," she muttered against his lips as she pressed her body further against his.

Axel's hands, which had been moving to wrap themselves around her waist, froze a little bit, and he began to pull away, letting his hands drop a bit off of her waist.

"Mhm… don't play hard to get," she muttered with a wanting glance at his lips. "You want it too."

He closed his eyes.

When Roxas woke up it was already dark out. He had slept through the entire day. He yawned and stretched, the blanket falling from his body. He looked around himself, wondering what time it was. Instead of looking for a clock he walked to the window and flipped the blinds open. He wasn't too upset about sleeping for the good majority of the day, what else would he have done?

'Must be 11,' he thought as he watched bright lights begin to light the Tramm Common. The evening parade had just begun.

Roxas turned away from the cheerful lights back to the dark of the house and made his way to the kitchen, picking up a fortune cookie on the way.

"_Today is a lucky day for those who remain cheerful and optimistic." _

Roxas laughed at his fortune cookie and tossed the message into the trash as he chewed on the crumbs.

Roxas swallowed, the liquid burning his throat. He leaned deeper into the couch, the flashing lights from the TV captivating his mind completely. He took another swig of his beverage and let it fizz in his mouth before swallowing it. He usually didn't drink soda's, they made him feel like shit, but he'd make an exception for today. He was about to fall asleep, the soda gently tilting over in his hand, when there was a knock at his door. He sat up and grabbed the keys from the table. Tina had called him and asked him to have her keys ready when she came, she had forgotten them and she didn't want to wake Roxas up when she decided to come back later that night. Roxas had told her that if she wanted to, and it sounded as if she did, she could just spend the night at one of her friend's house but Tina had insisted that she not leave Roxas alone for the night, so she was going to run back as soon as possible to grab door bell rang again and he rushed to the door, knowing Tina was in a hurry. Especially since tonight was a big party night.

"Hey Roxas."

Roxas looked up at the person he had opened the door for.

"Axel."

"The one and only," he said with a charming smile, his cheeks red from the cold.

"What, what are you doing here?" Roxas asked, trying to hide his excitement.

"Oh ya know, I was in the neighborhood," he muttered, brushing his fingers through his red hair. "Gonna let met in? Because my balls are turning blue, and I refuse to let the cold have it's way with me like this."

Roxas nodded and stepped aside so that he could get in. "I thought you had a date."

"I did."

"Then why are you here?"

Axel turned plopped himself on Roxas' couch, not bothering to turn any lights on, and turned to Roxas, a devilishly handsome grin on his face.

"Because she was too much of a whore."

**Explanation: **

I don't see Axel as the type to have flings and carelessly distribute his affection, mainly when actual affection is involved. (ex. Love) Even in the game his devotion (to Roxas) is amazingly strong, and that devotion to those he 'cares' about did not happen in two hours but over a longer period of time.

I know a lot of stories portray him as a sex deprived pyro (I don't mind really, I love those stories quite a fucking lot actually, mmmm….. delicious) but I just thought I'd play it a little different in this one. And I feel like this Axel, while wouldn't mind having sex just for the purpose of sex, wouldn't fuck someone who barely knows him, tells him they love him, and he knows he doesn't them. (Ex. Leaving him with two problems, a clingy wannabe who doesn't know what love is, or being immoral to himself.) Or something like that. It makes sense to me.

I feel kinda weird about that last scene because it feels so predictable to me but I really wanted it in there, so if you have a problem with cliché's get over it. I'm keeping it as it is.

** I've also noticed, that as I'm going through the file I have the story under, that chunks are missing from it… so ah, I'm a little confused by my own story.


	5. Family Jewels

**Notice: Rating has gone up to M. **

**Good Question: **This is a new chapter that wasn't in the original. I tried to bring back some of the things that my copy of the story didn't have in the beginning. There's a little bit of graphic detail sexually speaking but other than that it's tame, went up to M for safety.

**Chapter 5: **Family Jewels

Roxas woke up feeling good and happy. Extremely good and happy.

He rolled over in his bed onto his side and cuddled to the warm body next to him, burying deeper into the blankets because it was so cold. The person he had been cuddling to snored and Roxas opened his eyes wide. He found his head facing someone's back. He swallowed slowly and crossed his legs as much as he could as he searched upwards for who it was. He had a bad and good feeling. Axel was gorgeous in his sleep. If there had to have been a defining moment that Roxas would have to pin point as to why he wanted to go at it like rabbits it was this, even if Axel's face was more peaceful than seductive at the moment. He didn't mind. Roxas stared for a bit longer, wondering when it would be a good time to stop and telling himself he needed to get out of bed and take a cold shower before his friend woke up. Moving was very difficult to do tho', so he quit on it just as he thought about it. He felt Axel stir a bit and held his breath, body tensing to jump out of bed, but as Axel only re-adjusted himself to lie on his back Roxas relaxed, settling back into the bed and sort of wrapped around him. He had a much better view now. It was precious, Axel's hair was messier than usual, a lot of the carefully styled strands of hair that were usually lifted out of his face were strewn about in gentle lines all over. Roxas didn't know if he wanted to gently push the strands aside or if he wanted to yank Axel by the hair to him and kiss him more. His daydreams were interrupted by a grunt and two sleepy eyes blinking open. Roxas would've moved, he really meant to, but as the red head opened his eyes Roxas saw nothing but beautiful green splashes of color. Even on their first meeting Roxas had been stumped by Axel's unusually green eyes, they reminded him of a forest on fire, but the fire didn't burn the forest, it fed it, making it richer.

"Mornin'" Axel mumbled blinking slowly to try and get his cognitive functions to work.

Roxas rolled over in the bed and covered his crotch with a blanket. "Morning," he tried to say as neutrally as possible, stretching and yawning loudly, making it seem as if he had just woken up. "Sorry I was staring," Roxas said as he stood up and started to make a quick getaway for the bathroom door. "I just forgot that you had spent the night and the idea that you were here bewildered me."

Axel laughed lazily in a way that sent small sparks jumping along Roxas's back. He hadn't laughed really, it had been more of a chuckle, so masculine, and deep. "I'm going to take my morning shower."

"I thought you weren't a morning person?" Axel asked as he sat up, the covers slipping off revealing what Roxas had already discovered as they had been lying there. Axel had only slept in a pair of sweats that Roxas had found for him, leaving his chest bare. Roxas was tempted to turn around to see or to glance back and take a quick look, but the humiliation that could follow was really not his thing.

"I'm not, but this is a good way to wake myself up seeing as we're both sort-of up already," Roxas said. He wished that he had looked at the watch so that he could put together a better retort. But it happened. He quickly closed the bathroom door and locked it, leaning against the bathroom counter staring at himself in the mirror. He shook his head at himself and glanced down at the not so subtle tent in his pants. "Roxas, Roxas, Roxas," he slapped his face on both sides gently, "get a hold of yourself." He began to strip and turned on the water, letting his hand stretch out so that he could measure the temperature. He had it turned to cold but as he thought about it more, his hand slowly turned the water to the normal temperature he enjoyed it at.

"It's my bathroom, I can be in here however long that I want," Roxas told himself as he stepped into the shower, sinking down against the end that the shower wasn't on, and spreading his legs. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, wrapping his hand around his dick. Especially with the visual images he had from the morning, he could so clearly imagine what it could be like between him and Axel.

Axel would push him down on the bed, even though Roxas would start it by playfully nipping and kissing along his neck. Roxas would straddle his lap and tease and grind against him, both of them hard and panting. Every time that Axel would push for more, grinding harder or trying to pull him in for a kiss, Roxas would pull away and give him nothing but teasing touches. Then Axel would get fed up, those beautiful green eyes turned dark with need and lust, just for him. Axel would grab him and carry him to the bed, tossing him without ceremony and more with haste onto the bed. He would then blink stupidly for a little bit, but that wouldn't stop the feelings of anticipation racing through his body like individual streaks of heat. Roxas would lie in the bed, facing Axel on the edge, stretched out with his legs open, so that Axel could get the full sight of what he was going to be enjoying.

Roxas's body clenched together tightly inside at the thought of the full weight of Axel's gaze being on him, and what those eyes would be communicating to him. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck fuck,' is about what Roxas imagined their entire bodies screaming, just **fuck. **He began to stroke a bit faster as his imagination took another turn, watching in the theater in his head as Axel crawled on top of him, letting his hard on slide along Roxas's body until he stopped, sort of sitting on Roxas's chest.

_Oh _god Axel's dick would be so big and hard, stretched in his pants, the entire silhouette clearly outlined by the pants straining to hold it in. And Roxas would lift his head and try to get closer to it, but the way Axel was sitting he could only get so close, so Roxas would stick his tongue out and while he felt a little odd doing it, would lick along that bulge because while he couldn't reach fully, his tongue could. And Axel's breath would get heavier, trying not to cave into him and play the game at his own pace. Just as Roxas was managing to gain ground in lifting to get closer Axel would pull away and slide his body back down, leaving Roxas to whine at him in frustration. Axel would only grin and unzip and unbutton Roxas's pants on his way down, teasingly sliding his hand over the bulge still held in by boxers. Roxas whined anxiously and Axel lowered his head down. Roxas squeezed his dick tighter, imagining what Axel's mouth would feel like. Oh it would be good. So go-

"Hey Roxy?"

Roxas cursed as he heard the knock on his door and Axel's voice. He pulled his hair sharply and tried to take a few calming breaths before yelling back to him. "Yeah?!"

"I don't mean to rush you man, or anything like that, but, I really have to go pee," Axel mumbled from the other side of the door.

Roxas closed his eyes and almost screamed in frustration, "There's one down the hall."

"Your aunt is using it."

They only had one more bathroom downstairs, but it was currently being renovated because some of the pipes had exploded because of the cold and ice expanding in them.

"Give me a minute!" Roxas yelled over the sound of the shower, leaning back and grabbing his hair in two fistfuls, banging the back of his head against the shower wall. Looks like it'd be a cold showed today anyway.

Roxas quickly finished with his shower, shaking with cold when he was done but thankfully bonerless. He opened the door to the bathroom and nodded his head to Axel who had been waiting patiently on his bed. He sighed internally, at this point his aunt probably would've left the bathroom but he doubted that Axel would go back and forth to check, that seemed stupid even to Roxas. "All right, you're good," Roxas said, pointing his thumb towards the bathroom. Axel gave him a relieved grin and stood up.

"Thanks big man," Axel said with a grin and a wink, slapping Roxas's back as he passed him.

Roxas remained frozen as Axel closed his bathroom door. What the hell had that meant? The only possible thing that he could thing to prompt such a teasing and interesting response out of Axel was if he had seen….. Roxas paled and his body shrank a few sizes at the thought that Axel had noticed his boner. His brain began to panic as he frantically searched for clothes so that he would be less naked when Axel came out again. Speed dressing, he was good at that. He was just finishing tossing a shirt on as Axel came back out, yawning with the sweats off, now only in his boxers. Roxas turned around and swallowed a needy whine in the back of his throat. Axel had _sex lines. _

Luckily Axel was also getting dressed so Roxas didn't have to worry about another boner incident occurring. The first one could be explained away with just the plain fact of morning wood. It happens to people, it just does, doesn't matter who you happened to let bunk in your bed that night. Oh fuck he hoped that Axel's comment had meant something else. They both went downstairs for breakfast, Roxas hurrying and keeping his body tucked like he had done when he was a little kid and trying not to get the bullies to notice him. Just don't move and be small and nobody pays attention to you.

Axel however had noticed this change and wondered what that was about. It didn't take him long to come up with several speculations, but he didn't want to bring them up with Tina in the room finishing up her breakfast before work. Before Roxas had even moved to town he was already acquainted with her, one of the reasons that it had been ok for Axel to crash without really asking for permission. Tina said a quick hello to them before pouring some coffee into a big thermos she carried around.

"Don't wreck the place while I'm gone," Tina warned them as she left the house, leaving the two of them alone.

Roxas pointed Axel to the different foods they had. Axel ended up pouring himself a bowl of cereal with Roxas and putting some pastries that they had picked up the day before into the microwave to heat them back up and make them fluffy. They sat across from each other on the island in the kitchen, mumbling small things as they ate, both pretty digesting their own thoughts.

"If you feel awkward about having that boner this morning, I'm okay with that," Axel said, watching Roxas as he spiddled some of his cereal back into the bowl. Bingo.

Roxas stuttered with a few responses and denials, obviously embarrassed and flustered. "Dude, really. I'm confident enough in my sexuality that something like that wouldn't freak me out. Not sure how they're about it in your home town but boners happen," Axel shrugged.

Roxas laughed a little bit inside at himself. Axel was so confident in his straightness that other men's genitalia didn't bother him. Now if Roxas hadn't been wanting to bone the daylights out of him this would've been the best character bonus he could've given Axel. He was still blushing out of embarrassment however as he said , "If you say so. I've just never really had people spend the night before and shit. And I can imagine it being really awkward."

Axel smiled as he heard the microwave beep. He got up to go get the small plate out of the microwave and turned back to Roxas. "Nah, it's not a problem, if it helps, out of fuck nowhere right after you went to have a shower I kinda got one myself. God damn morning wood, not good for anything huh?"

Roxas dropped his head down and laughed into his cereal. Oh if only Axel knew how much of a god damn morning wood was.

Later that day Roxas met up with Demyx and Zexion, both of them insisting that they spend the day together to make up for the fact that Roxas had been forced to spend the day alone. As they sat at the little coffee shop Roxas laughed. "It wasn't that bad really. Turned out much better than I had expected."

He told them the story of Axel coming over, and why he had dropped by, and they had spent the entire evening playing video games and talking. He also told them about Axel spending the night and his embarrassing boner moment. They were both laughing at him but somewhere inside Demyx wasn't feeling so great.

It wasn't that he had anything against Roxas trying to go for Axel, or the two of them becoming such close friends. He had no problems with that at all and encouraged it, it would be great to see the both of them end up together. There was just one problem with that, while he felt shameful for still having leftover feelings, Demyx had once, and maybe still had, a thing for Axel. Demyx had been the first person that Axel had met when he had moved to town. They had played a lot together as kids, seeing as they lived right next to each other. They walked to school together and participated in some of the same clubs.

Things changed when Demyx got to high school. While he had always been aware that Axel had been an attractive man, he had finally come to terms with the fact that he liked men. It was just his horrible misfortune to always be hanging around a very attractive man. For a few years Demyx kept it to himself, torturing himself much like Roxas was at the moment, except he had two years of it. Two years of hiding boners, moaning Axel's name as he masturbated at home, and trying to hang out with him as much as possible just to be close as friends.

He had fucked it up one day though. This functioning relationship the two had together, their dynamic. It was after band practice; Axel was waiting at the doors for him. Everyone else had left and they were last ones in the hall, even the teacher had bid them farewell and had locked the band hall doors. They chatted a bit about their day; their classes didn't overlap much, before Demyx stepped forward. They were both halfway done with their junior year and Demyx was done holding all of it in, he didn't want to go for 3 years of hiding. He kissed him.

It was gentle, and Demyx pulled back almost instantly. "I really like you, Axel." Demyx dropped his head and stared to the side stubbornly, almost daring Axel to flip out on him.

Axel was quiet for a second before he put a hand on Demyx's shoulder, causing him to look up. There was such sympathy in his eyes. "Demyx. Look, I like you and all, but I'm not into men. I'm sorry."

And Axel had to have apologized. It would've been so much easier if he hadn't. Demyx nodded his head, "Okay. Okay..okay. I just, wanted to say it."

Axel nodded his head and then looked around a bit awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm gonna go get the rest of my stuff and we can go, all right?" He said trying to smooth over the situation. He wasn't sure what it was going to be like for Demyx, but he really didn't' want their friendship to go to ruins.

Demyx swallowed and nodded. "Yeah." He mumbled.

Axel left just as Demyx's shoulders began to shake a little. He hated himself, of course Axel was straight, he had known that. And now his heart hurt, so terribly. It was even worse having a 'no' than being in a limbo of that hopeful chance. He pounded his fist against the wall in the hallway and cursed himself, trying to regain all of his composure before Axel got back God damn if Axel was going to see him cry. Because Axel was a good person, and if he saw Demyx crying, Axel would just feel worse about, well, truly nothing. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't gay.

As Roxas told his story, Demyx wondered what would be worse. If Roxas succeeded in getting Axel, which would mean that Axel liked dick, or at least some dick, but didn't want him, or rather he had timed everything wrong and lost his chance. And another part of him would be heart broken _for _Roxas if things didn't go smoothly.

"You okay Demyx? You seem a little distracted," Roxas noted when Demyx hadn't said anything for quite some time.

Demyx laughed and gave his good natured grin, "Oh. I was just indulging myself in the idea of a shirtless Axel with a boner."

They all laughed, but there was an undertone of strain in two of the voices laughing.

**Notes: **Be aware that I may go back and tweak this chapter depending on whether or not I manage to get my hands of original copies of how I wrote these two things in the original and introduced them.

At this point you'll probably get a few chapters that weren't in the original because I'm trying to make it flow a lot smoother than it did last time.


	6. Butterscotch

**Good Question: **Bad side about writing again, I'm now back to obsessively checking my e-mail for reviews. It's a very disappointing life style.

Also, this is a modified half of a chapter with an added second part to make it into a flow helper chapter. Because I believe in development and hopefully I won't sacrifice that in my impatience to get to the juice.

**Warning: **The title of this story will be changing soon.

**Chapter 6: **Butterscotch

Roxas yawned and buried himself further into his blanket. He was about to fall asleep again until he felt a weight pushing at his back. His first thought was Axel but just to be sure he swatted at it, he hadn't expected it to swat back, or rather bite.

"Mother fu-!" Roxas sat up straight and flung his hand to the side, sending the creature that had been attached to his hand flying.

His eyes followed the flying lump of white to where it landed safely on a cushion on the other side of the room. Roxas stared, eyes wide open, as the lump shook itself and barked.

'No.'

He got up, kicking the blankets out of his way as he almost hurled himself into the kitchen to find his aunt.

"Aunt Tina. What is _that?_" Roxas asked, pointing to the dog that had followed him into the kitchen.

"It's a dog Roxas," Tina answered as she popped in a second set of toast.

"Let me rephrase, what is _it _doing here?"

Tina smiled and placed a mug of tea and two pieces of toast on the table in front of Roxas.

"We adopted it. And he has a name. It's Butterscotch. Reno named him, he won't answer to anything else."

Roxas slid into the seat and stabbed at his toast with his fork, wondering after a second why he had a fork out for toast. "Why?"

"Don't be such a grumpy person about it. You'll see. It'll be good for you."

Tina smiled and placed her hand on Roxas' shoulder, telling him that he would grow to love the fur ball. "I need you to do a favor for me."

Had Roxas not just woken up he would've been more suspicious and more concentrated on the important things instead of how to get rid of the dog without Tina noticing. "Yeah sure. What is it?"

"Good! Listen, I have a meeting with some very important people and I can't make it to the bar in time to open it, but Reno should be there. I'll be there later tonight. I need you to drop Butterscotch off at the bar too seeing as you obviously don't intend to care for him."

Roxas glared at the mug of tea in front of him as if it was its fault. "Fine."

After he was done with breakfast and a painfully slow getting dressed procedure he decided to take the dog to the bar. The sooner he got rid of it the better. Roxas took the leash into his hand and glared at the fur ball. He would've been fine just running a few errands for his aunt but he didn't exactly want the company of the dog. It wasn't that he was prejudice just again dogs. He had always thought that he was the wrong type of person for a pet. His 6th grade gold fish project agreed with him.

Nonetheless he complied with his aunt's wishes to walk to the Baazar and drop of Butterscotch there for Reno or someone to take care of. He was also instructed to remind them that later that night they would be getting some interviewer type people that were coming to take pictures of bar's around town and name them, and to have the pool tables really cleaned before five. Or maybe the cleaners were coming and the interviewers came at five. Both seemed the same to him.

Roxas hugged his jacket around him as he stepped into the cold wind, winter had really started to kick in and Roxas found himself wishing he were back at Destiny Island where even in the winter it was pretty warm. The dog yipped at his feet as he fumbled with the key and locked the door behind him.

"Axel! The box? Maybe? Now?" Reno asked as he stood on top of a wobbly ladder. They had to change their decorations from I-day to general winter season, and this of course was left to them seeing as Tina didn't hire many people. She liked to have people she trusted working at her bar, gave her less to worry about and everybody more freedom. Axel turned himself around in one of the bar stools and watched amused as his brother swayed back and forth. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

"Axel. Now please!"

Axel shook his head but got up anyway, slowly making his way to the box where the I-day decorations would be stowed away. Reno had offered, with Tina's permission, to pay Axel if he helped with getting the bar up and running that day seeing as they didn't have the usual lazy time they did. Axel had at first refused, grumbling and crawling deeper into his bed, maybe becoming one with his mattress, but the pay that Reno had offered was too good to pass up for as little work that he assumed he would be doing. Axel lifted the box and cradled it in his arms. He walked over to Reno and held up the box for him to put the fragile decorations in.

"Lift it a bit higher," Reno instructed, tugging one side of the heavy box to his knee so that it didn't burden Axel as much, seeing as they were almost level with each other when his hands were outstretched. The bell that hung above the door sounded and Axel's attention was brought to the door as Reno yelled a ' welcome back', assuming it was Tina because the bar was closed until noon, which meant only people with the key could get in.

"I brought the dog," Roxas yelled out, unclasping the leash and letting the dog run loose into the bar.

"Roxas!"

Axel let go of the box and jumped over the bar counter, and ran a bit down the hall flinging his arms around Roxas and successfully tackling him to the ground in a cheerful hug. Roxas gasped, his air having been pushed out when he had hit the ground. "Axel –wheeze- air."

Axel immediately moved off, placing one hand on Roxas' back and the other on his stomach, pushing him forward. "Sorry. Uhm… just breathe. Yeah. That's what you need to do." But even as he apologized there was humor in his voice. The thought it was funny. If Roxas' had the strength he would've elbowed Axel but he had to settle with glaring as Axel rubbed circles on his back.

"I'm fine. Is Reno here? I brought the fur ball."

"Actually yes, we were just-."

Axel stopped with wide eyes and sprang up again, sliding around the corner just in time to watch as Reno clung to the stairs with one hand and leg, and the other was trying to save the box from falling because it already had some decorations in it. Roxas showed up just in time, not being far behind Axel, to watch the ladder began to tilt under the unbalance weight distribution. The two boys watched as the ladder made its seemingly slow fall to the ground, Reno trying to shove the box away so that it wouldn't crush him, some of the ornaments in there were pretty fucking heavy.

.

Axel and Roxas winced as the sound hit their ears.

"Reno? You okay?" Axel moved forward and leaned over his brother after the sound of the crash had cleared.

"Peachy. Who let the dog off the leash without warning me ?"

"What dog?" Axel asked as he looked around, and then stopped as he found a white fluffy dog sitting at the end of the ladder looking quite proud of itself.

Roxas raised his hand up a little, "the fur ball? Yeah." Reno tried to push himself up, only to fall back down with grunt.

"You sure you're okay?" Axel asked helping him up.

"I think that highly hazardous and slightly fatal fall may have sprained my wrist," Reno said as he lifted his arm, his wrist hanging limply at an odd angle. Axel flinched as he watched his brother try to push his wrist back properly, but stopping when it was apparent he might snap it off entire if he tried anymore than that.

"I'm sorry," Roxas said, walking over to the dog and picking him up.

"Yeah fucker. But it's okay. You can work in my place, but unlike Axel, you won't get paid," Reno said, cheerful despite the condition of his wrist. It meant he got the day to relax. He hated doing the decorations anyway and usually hired a friend or two to do it instead. He had no eye for these things, he didn't understand why Tina thought he did.

"Yes sir."

Axel glanced sympathetically at Roxas before getting the first aid kit as well as Reno's coat. He asked him if he wanted a ride to the hospital but Reno assured him it was safer to chance walking in the cold than getting into a car with him. "You two be good!" Reno called out as he left, his arm in a makeshift sling.

"It wasn't really your fault," Axel began the moment the door had closed.

"It's cool. I have nothing better to do today anyway," Roxas said, pretending to shrug it off, but it did bother him just a little bit because he knew how important his aunts business was to her. Shit.

Axel sighed and placed a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "I can never win. Come on then, let's start with the decorations again."

A good two hours had passed and Roxas and Axel found themselves with nothing to do. They didn't have the authority to open the Bazaar but it was already 12:20 and Reno had yet to return and all of the decorations had been done, they had even cleaned a bit. They had left the lights off and sat in the dark. They watched as one or two people scratched their heads and turned away or tried the door.

"So…."

"So…."

"What's up?"

Roxas glanced at Axel, almost wincing at the awkward start to get a conversation going, but he had to give him credit for trying. It wasn't like he was doing any better. Might as well give a similar awkward, obvious answer back.

"Nothing really, annoyed that I have to take care of the fur ball."

Axel grinned and reached down to pick up the dog in question. "He has a name you know. And look, he's adorable!"

Roxas stared at the black twinkling eyes of the dog and huffed. Axel had prettier eyes. But then again, Axel wasn't a dog.

"I'm well aware of that. You know, you could take him," Roxas suggested as he brushes his fingers over the dog's wet nose, attempting to show that he didn't really have anything against the species.

"But then it'd be harder for me to find excuses to justify me trying to live at your house," Axel said with a wink. Roxas shook his head and smiled inwardly. He really wouldn't mind Axel living with him, it just gave him more Axel time to himself, and he could probably secretly stare at him in almost nude to nothing all the time. Axel decided to try and combat the awkwardness by occupying himself with the dog.

Roxas stared at Axel in silence until he got fed up with it.

"I feel neglected."

Axel stopped petting Butterscotch and reached his hand over to pet Roxas's hair, "I'm sorry."

Roxas shook the hand off and glared at the dog and Axel interchangeably. He hoped that Reno would come back soon, because he really didn't know what to do if nobody showed up to open the bar. And Tina was in a meeting so it was useless to try to call her.

"Roxas? Why do you hate dogs?"

'Because he's occupying _my _spot,' Roxas thought as the dog whined in Axel's lap. "I don't hate dogs. I just don't like pets in general."

Axel rested his head on his hand and tilted his head at Roxas, the dog staring at Roxas as well. It was a little intimidating. "That's a lie, everyone likes pets."

'You'd make a good pet,' Roxas thought for a brief second before banishing his dick from giving his brain suggestions. "I guess."

The awkwardness stretched on. There wasn't really much that had changed between them within the few days so Roxas didn't understand why it was so hard all of a sudden to talk to him. His brain felt sticky and slow, at least on what to say to him. "You wanna raid the staff room fridge?" Roxas suggested.

"I believe I would," Axel replied getting up a little quickly sending the dog in a small tumble onto the couch. Roxas smirked at the dog and stuck out his tongue, following Axel to the kitchen. The kitchen was very simple and connected to a small dining room like square. Axel knew his way better around the place than he did so he made them drinks and got plates out and all that. Roxas thought it was absurdly domestic, and somehow very very endearing. Which worried him as he was done thinking it, because endearing had nothing to do with sex and fire and more to do with fuzzy feelings and romance. He stuffed the uncomfortable feeling deep inside of him and shook his head. He was being stupid.


	7. Rolling Stones

**Good Question: **I have pretty much the entire story, story boarded with a lot of it written out. So updates from this point on will depend on how motivated you guys make me and how my college classes go. If audience response is good you'll probably get about an updated a day or at least 3 updates a week.

Change of title now official.

**Edit:** Added more length to the chapter instead of putting it into the other one. A bit revised.

**Chapter 7: **Rolling Stones

It was raining, or rather pouring, the temperature dropping steadily as the night went on, and Zexion had the misfortune of having his heat turned off recently. Demyx was copped up together on Zexion's couch with Roxas. It was a type of weekend sleepover. Demyx and Roxas were intertwined in Zexion's lap, the two of the munching entranced on popcorn, which was a little burnt because Demyx had been too busy loving on Roxas to notice that it was done. Thunder rumbled outside and after a small bolt of lightning the lights in the apartment went out, as did the TV. Roxas and Demyx eeped and squished themselves closer to Zexion for comfort.

"Relax," Zexion said rubbing both of their backs.

"We are relaxed," Demyx and Roxas quipped back at him. Zexion looked at them like an adult would look at a child who was trying to tell them they didn't sneak candy and they've got the entire bag behind their backs. He shook his head and sighed. He stood up with Roxas and Demyx clinging to him, causing him to stagger a bit.

Zexion patted them on their heads gently, "You have to let me go. I need to get the candles out."

Demyx and Roxas reluctantly let go of him, and then held onto each other. They cuddled as they listened to Zexion shuffle around in the back of the apartment. They each had their eyes closed and were lying under one blanket on the couch, trying to relish in what little light could be gathered from the storm outside. The two of them began getting a little nervous as the wind picked up and it appeared as if Zexion had been gone for a really long time. They squeeked as they heard a sudden ruffle behind them, turning around to find Zexion holding to lit candles out to them.

_Oh. _

"Here, put these on the table."

They each took a candle and carefully felt for the table, getting side-tracked a little bit and poking each other in the sides instead. They sat close to the flickering lights until Zexion had finished gathering enough candles to light up the room. Demyx and Roxas stared at him as he moved across the apartment.

"The, this should be good."

_Oh yes. It was good. _

Zexion talked for a little while before he noticed that neither of them were paying any attention to him. Their eyes seemed a little hazy. "Zexion's apartment to couch occupiers, pick up. What's wrong?"

But on the contrary It was oh so right. This was the first time either of them had seen Zexion in the soft candle light that bathed over him. And he looked sexy, really sexy. Even Roxas had trouble not staring.

"You know, taking a bath together is recommended when the lights go out," Demyx said to Roxas, keeping his eyes fixed on Zexion who was starting to feel practically naked.

Roxas nodded and agreed. He situated himself more on the couch. Being loved by both of them was different than having sex with them, and he assumed that's what the two of them would devolve into doing once they saw each other naked.

"Come with," Demyx said extending a hand towards him.

"Demyx, that'd be weird."

Demyx smiled gently at him, "I didn't mean for shenanigans, tho' that would be really interesting, but to cuddle in the tub. It's big enough to fit the three of us. "

Roxas thought about it for a second. The apartment was pretty cold, they wouldn't mind his company, and maybe a little love was what he needed to try and make being around Axel easier for his heart, and Demyx was pretty insistent.

Hang outs like that developed to be pretty common from them, alternatively at different places so that one places didn't get too trashed. Most of the topic conversation would end up relating back to Axel and the things he did to be so sexy. Zexion listened to the commentary with patience, occasionally offering his own opinion. Roxas had told them about how Axel had playfully flirted and winked at a girl when they were out grabbing lunch, and the girl had practically melted into the ground. Demyx thought about it wistfully, resting his head between his hands. "If only he were gay," he sighed and Roxas chorused an agreement. Roxas had unconsciously begun to envelop himself as a part of Zexion's and Demyx's relationship. Demyx, oblivious in his own way, had welcome it, pulling Roxas closer in to give his heart another person to distract himself with other than Axel.

Although Roxas was having his problems with being around Axel they spent a lot of time together. Roxas would drop by sometimes when Axel was doing set up work at the bar for his brother. They also spent a lot of time at school and in between classes together. Axel, as the very handsome captain of a sports team, had a bit of a fanclub that operated in the school. While they had originally felt threatened by Roxas they had now branched him in as a handsome friend appropriate to be ogled at. Some even fancied the idea of both of them together, either with them or just with each other. For the most part the fanclub or the movement wasn't that big of a public thing, but you could hear the whispers of it everywhere. Roxas of course had become almost immediately aware of it, and found it harder not to fantasize about Axel. There were too many pervy thoughts about the two of them floating around that he liked to think a bout way too much on his own private time, and some he hadn't even thought about. He had also begun to wonder about what it would be like to actually date him. Some of the fanfictions he had stumbled across painted a pretty enjoyable picture of it.

Axel's introduction to its existence wasn't until he had stumbled across a fanfiction that Roxas had left lying around his room. Roxas explained it as a curiosity about what it was about and said he had kept it to show him. As Axel read through some he began to notice more things about Roxas, things he had never really noticed before. He was starting to be able to recall Roxas's smile almost perfectly from memory. Which didn't bother him, he just assumed that he hadn't been a good enough friend until then to have all these wonderful things slip past him. He was walking around school after the last had rung to wait for Roxas. He stumbled across two girls bent over a piece of paper, blushing and giggling to themselves. He walked over to them and tapped them on the shoulders, wanting to see what it was. The girls jumped apart in surprise.

"Axel!"

"Oh!"

"Hi," they said in unison, scooting closer together and hiding the paper behind their backs.

"You wouldn't want to see it," one of the girls said, "I don't think you'd be interested in it."

Axel ignored them because he had a feeling about what it was. He bent and twisted a little so that he could reach a hand around them and pluck the paper from their hands. They squealed and grabbed their stuff from the ground, running away giggling and looking back every so often, giggling even more. Axel shook his head, sometimes he really didn't understand females. He looked at the paper in his hands. His eyes widened a bit as he figured out who the attractive woman in the picture was. It was a drawn picture of a female Roxas, and it was wonderful. Axel felt himself blush a little.

"Ready to go?"

Axel twitched a bit in surprise but recovered quickly, swiftly tucking the drawing in between his books. This wasn't something that he wanted Roxas to catch him with.

"Yeah, let's go."

Axel drove Roxas home and watched the boy walk into his house, giving a small wave before he closed the door. Axel leaned back in his chair for a little bit, sliding his book a little off of the picture of Roxas. Whoever had drawn it knew how to draw drawings that spoke to you because Axel found the picture terribly entrancing. He shook his head and concentrated on getting home. He drove off after putting the book back on top of the drawing.

That night as he was sleeping, he had an interesting dream. In it Axel was at school at practice, and he knew someone was waiting for him as he got done. He was in the locker room taking a shower when he felt someone walk up behind him. He turned around, knowing who it was because everyone else had already left the campus. 'You can't be here,' Axel breathed softly. The woman who had entered the showers was only wearing her panties and a white tank which would soon become see through. 'I could leave.' She said with a smile as she slowly sauntered her way towards him. Axel grew hard as he watched her move towards him, the dampness in the air clinging to her skin. His breath hitched as she stepped into the shower with him. The water cascaded over her, making her shit cling to her body tightly and flattening her blond hair. The woman wrapped her arms around him and ground their bodies together. Axel responded by wrapping his arms around her legs and hoisting her up against the wall under the shower so that it ran down his back. She moaned and she stared at him, her bright eyes gone misty with need. She slipped a hand between them and down, touching as much of Axel as he could. 'Oh Roxas,' he whispered.

Axel woke up panting heavily. He could see the moon hidden behind clouds. He took a deep breath and glanced down. Axel cursed at the boner he had and moved to open his window to get some cold air in. He collapsed in his bed, his body reacting already to the cold wind coming in through the small crack he had opened. He closed his eyes and cursed his imagination. It didn't really bother him that he had this very sexual dream, it bothered him that he had dreamed of Roxas. He cursed the picture he had found earlier and tried to clear his thoughts. It seemed like it was going to be a long night.

The next morning Axel had trouble looking straight at Roxas. In his head certain things Roxas said or did became more feminine to him, and when they were getting ready for P.E. he imagined as he strictly glanced at Roxas's back and the curve of his ass, that Roxas was a woman, and he had to do very unpleasant things to himself so that he would be able to participate in P.E. It came to a maximum when Axel fell half asleep in one of his classes, having not slept well the night before, and imagined Roxas, as a male, in a dress and it looked almost just as pretty. He startled himself awake with the thought and resigned to himself to go see a therapist because this was just weird.

The dream had profoundly affected Axel and he was more alert than ever. His fascination extended into watching Roxas interact with other people. He knew Demyx was gay, although the revelation had been a rather painful one, more so for Demyx than himself. It had brought a small gulf between them that they had never truly managed to patch back up. Roxas had given him an excuse to linger about again, but he felt like something was still awkward about it. Zexion he had gather, as most people would if they stopped to observe, was also gay and together with Demyx. It wasn't something they flaunted but just was. Roxas and Demyx flirted, and were very publicly affectionate, spurring on rumors that never really harmed their reputations, but only indulged some minds in intricate fantasies. Axel began to notice the way Roxas displayed affections towards women who flirted with him and Demyx. Which led to his speculation that maybe Roxas had a bit of gay in him too. If Roxas noticed that he was watching him more, it was never mentioned. And Roxas had noticed it, but not in the way Axel thought he might. Roxas had noticed that Axel seemed to be more absent minded, maybe even bored in his company, which only drove Roxas to cling to Demyx and Zexion more in his loneliness. The one day Axel brought up an interesting proposition to him.

"Hey Roxas."

Roxas closed his book and tilted his head back so that he could look at Axel.

"Yes?"

Axel grinned and leaned down, wrapping his arms around Roxas's shoulders. "You've met Reno, so I figure you could come over for dinner. Mom and dad want to meet you and they're actually home tonight," Axel suggested as he continued to lean on Roxas.

"Um. Sure. I just have to ask Tina."

"I already did. She's cool with it."

"Isn't that a bit bold of you? What if I had said no?" Roxas asked as he turned around in the chair to face him. Axel leaned in with a grin, their noses almost touching.

"You wouldn't say no."

Roxas had to remember to breathe as he left the library.

The day passed quickly for him and Roxas found himself soon standing outside of Axel's house as he fiddled with the keys. Roxas's apprehensions grew the longer he stood there.

"Namine! Kairi! I'm home."

Roxas glanced around as they stepped into the house, looking for the people that Axel had called for. In a few seconds he found himself wondering why he had toppled to the floor.

"Hey Kairi. You missed."

Roxas groaned and lifted himself a bit off of the ground so he could be eye to eye with the little girl sitting on his body. The little girl turned her head and stuck her tongue out at Axel, "I didn't miss. I meant to land on Roxas."

Apparently Axel had talked about him enough so that he was recognizable by the small child from description alone. "Hi there, Kairi, was it?"

The bubbly girl turned around back to him with a gigantic grin, "Oh yes! Yes! I'm glad you rememberered."

"Welcome home, and it's remembered."

Roxas looked behind Kairi to see another girl, this one older, giving Axel a hug. "This is Namine."

Roxas smiled and lifted Kairi off of himself, nodding a hello to Namine. She stared curiously at Roxas before turning to Axel. "Oh, mom and dad got called in. They can't eat with us tonight but they send all of us, and you Roxas, their regards."

"That's a shame. But you're still eating with us, right Roxas?"

"You have to stay!" Kairi squealed, pulling on his arm.

Roxas would've stayed regardless of begging, especially with the prospects of meeting the prestigious parents was off of the table. "All right, all right. I wasn't planning on leaving anyway," he said with a cheerful laugh.

Axel picked Kairi up and carried her to the kitchen, her laughter ringing across the house. Namine smiled at Roxas and waited until he had entered the house more. "He's still single ya know."

Roxas blushed and almost made a second visitation with the ground. Was he that obvious?

Roxas had become a more regular visitor at their house, eating some meals there and tutoring Namine when he had the chance and she needed help. Especially when Axel wasn't home this gave them time to talk, and to Roxas's great surprise, Namine was far beyond her age peers in comprehension and maturity. She was very intelligent and talented even with young age. He learned that everyone in their family somehow excelled at something. For her it was academics, Axel it was sports, and Kairi was showing a flair for music. Namine had laughed about Reno, calling him the family's 'hidden talent.' A knack for business had eventually been the closets that their family could get to a consensus. The closer he got to Axel's family, the more hopeful he began to feel, now spending some more time with Namine than Demyx and Zexion some days. Axel, had however, started to become mysteriously busy.

One weekend Roxas was knocking on Axel's door, not having spent that much time with him during the week. He glanced around at the dead trees in the year and waited for the door to open.

"Roxas!"

Roxas gave up contemplating Axel and caught Kairi before she could tackle him to the ground. For a little girl she packed quite the force behind her.

"Hey Kairi, is Axel home?" he asked as Kairi began to pull him inside the house.

"He was. But he left. He wouldn't tell me why though."

As Kairi complained about older brothers who kept too many secrets Namine had come to the door. She smiled and tried to pry Kairi off. It wasn't that Kairi wasn't a bundle of cuteness, Roxas's arm was just going numb.

"You just missed him."

"So I heard. Any idea where he went?" he asked as he tried to get blood back into his arm.

"No. He just got a call and sprinted out after that," Namine said as she sent Kairi to get some paper and crayons. Roxas nodded and put his jacket on the rack in the entry way and kicked off his shoes. Axel's home was almost his second, he had even met the father. Only Reno made him feel uncomfortable, he felt that the man didn't like him very much. Roxas hadn't even made it out of the entryway as the door flung open again. "Roxas!"

Roxas didn't have any time to prepare as Axel launched himself at him, bringing them both down in a tumble. "Ow," Roxas grumbled as he raised a hand to what the thought would develop into a bruise later.

"Sorry about that."

He opened his eyes to find Axel staring right at him. He swallowed and hoped Axel couldn't hear his heart beat. It was almost having a seizure. "You're not sorry."

Axel laughed and balanced himself over Roxas, his knee sliding dangerously close to areas that Roxas didn't want him accidentally touching. It might be his undoing. "You know me too well," Axel quipped getting up.

Roxas took Axel's outstretched hand, "You're not very hard to figure out."

He hadn't expected Axel to tug him up with such force, causing him to loose his balance and topple straight back into Axel, the two of them ending once again on the floor in an ungraceful and embarrassing heap. Roxas felt humiliated.

"Careful there Roxy-baby, I know I'm irresistible but damn," he said with a playful wink, this time pulling Roxas up more slowly. Roxas blushed as Axel laughed and walked to the kitchen.

"That looked like fun," Namine commented having watched the interaction.

"Well it wasn't," Roxas applied grumpily.

"He loves you."

"As a friend."

"It's a step."

"Oh god I hope so."

Namine gave Roxas an encouraging pat on the back and then went upstairs to distract Namine.

'I really hope so,' Roxas thought as he followed Axel into the kitchen.


	8. Negligence

**Good Question: **We get a little insight into Zexion and what he thinks of this entire situation.

Also, the previous chapter has been re-uploaded (whenever it shows up) under a different title, longer with stuff that I took out from this chapter and put with the previous one, and some revisions.

Those of you unhappy with the DemyxZexionRoxas, it's an important device and I indulge myself sometimes. It's not an actual pairing tho', so it won't threaten the Akuroku.

And **please **review. Empty inboxes make me sad. –heart-

**Chapter 8: **Negligence

Roxas glanced at the watch on his cell phone. 5:40 PM. Good. He'd have plenty of time to get home and stop by the store to grab himself something to eat before Tina came home. Tina had read about some new diet and insisted Roxas try it as well. He poked his flat tummy and decided he was in good enough health to buy himself something sweet. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself and began to head to the Marketplace. His teeth chattered as he entered the grocery store, his shoes wet from the sleet on the streets.

"Roxas?"

Roxas turned around and smiled. "Are you old enough to be here all by yourself?" he teased.

Namine laughed and gave him a hug, " Thank you for your concern but Reno's with me. I'm here to make sure he doesn't get sidetracked."

"How's Axel?" Roxas asked. He hadn't been able to spend much time with the red head in the recent weeks.

"He's well. I actually haven't seen him that much around the house. He's always out," Namine said with a small pout.

"It's okay. I'll talk to him eventually right?"

"You should come over sometimes, not just to visit Axel," Nanime remarked with a sympathetic smile.

"Namine! Where'd you go?! Oh-" Reno appeared from around the corner, and a small increase in tension occurred. Namine noticed this and quickly said good bye to Roxas, leading Reno to the cashier. Roxas sighed, maybe some tea was in order instead.

Zexion leaned back in his chair and shook the box of mints in his hands. The rattle visibly relaxed him. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, watching as the light reflecting from his wind chime bounced around the room. Zexion lifted his legs up on the desk and titled his chair even further back.

Things weren't going so well for him.

He loved Demyx, but wasn't sure what Demyx thought of him. The blond was attracted to him, of that much he was sure, but he questioned the full nature of that attraction. He had thought that he had come to terms with being the second best, with being a replacement for Axel. Recent events had caused him to become uneasy with it.

Roxas.

His arrival had changed a lot of things for him. Oh there were positives, lots of them. He now had a friend he didn't mind spending time outside of school with. While Zexion wasn't a recluse he didn't exactly make friends easily, finding most of the people at school people he only really wanted to speak to during school. Roxas was also a pleasant person to confide in. He closed his eyes and flipped the mint can over in his hands. Roxas had, however unintentionally, created a problem that could quite possibly break his heart. He cared about Roxas and wanted to see him happy, but for Roxas to be happy Axel had to have an interest in men. Zexion felt that the only reason he had lucked out with Demyx was because Axel was straight and therefore a conquest Demyx couldn't pursue. Zexion wasn't concerned just for his own state of affairs. He also thought about what it would mean for Demyx. More than likely, if things panned out in favor of Roxas, Axel would be interested in men and probably put his attentions to Roxas. Zexion's heart gave pained flutters as he thought about how… rejected Demyx would feel. He also thought about the distance that seemed to have spread between him and Demyx, a distance he somehow felt Demyx stuffing Roxas into, almost using him as a buffer.

He opened the can of mints and popped one in his mouth. It was 3 days to Valentines and Zexion still wanted to find something to impress Demyx, despite his worries. After all, if he intended to even try and keep Demyx there was only one way to do it. To be better than Axel. Zexion wrapped a warm scarf around his neck, for February was unusually cold this year.

Zexion went to a little popular coffee shop, he had ordered and as the waitress gave him his tea, he smiled, watching as the poor woman blushed and grinned. Life would have been so much easier had he been straight.

"Zexion?"

Zexion turned in his chair to find a surprised Roxas standing at the doorway of the café. "Roxas," he replied with a smile. Roxas waved at him and made his way to the comfy chairs Zexion was at. He sat down.

"I didn't know you came here," he said as he began to unravel himself from the layers he was wearing.

"I'm just full of surprises," Zexion replied as he helped Roxas put his stuff up, "but if your wanting me not to lie, they've got great tea."

Roxas smiled and waved over a waitress, "I come here for coffee. Before you and Demyx started disturbing my sleep, I'd always make a quick morning run here."

Zexion chuckled and sipped at his tea," My apologies."

Roxas rolled his eyes at Zexion's amusement and accepted his coffee from the waitress. He watched as she fled to the counter, where she got into the center of a group of girls, all giggling and trying to point discreetly.

"I think they think we're on a date," Zexion remarked watching the girls curiously.

"I suppose we could be," Roxas said with a wink.

Zexion shook his head and laughed, his face sobered up a little, "So, how are things with you and Axel?"

Roxas stopped mid laugh and sunk back in his chair a little bit. "Not much progress. Although, I do have the support of the younger sister, I'd say that's a step forward."

"Namine right?"

"Yeah. A lot of the time nowadays I end up hanging out with Namine more than with Axel."

Zexion gave a sympathetic smile and reached out to take Roxa's hand. He twined their fingers together and raised Roxas' hand to his lips, ignoring the obvious squeaks from the counter. "Don't lose hope, it's only a matter of time," Zexion said with a smile.

Roxas nodded but frowned, not taking his hand back until his waitress came with a second order of coffee for him. He stared out the window and asked, "Is it okay with you?"

Zexion looked surprised and stared at Roxas, "What are you talking about?"

Roxas gave a sad smile and began to gather his things, he had promised to help Axel with some school work that apparently only he could help with. "You and Demyx have a wonderful valentines day," Roxas said with a quick kiss on Zexion's cheek.

'You know, don't you?' Zexion thought with wide eyes, feeling more respect for the boy. But he also felt slightly sad, knowing that Roxas would sacrifice company for Demyx to stop depending so much on Roxas.

Demyx was working on random homework, or trying to, most of his math problems ending in doodles instead of actual work. His mind briefly drifted to and from Axel. It also rolled around Zexion for quite some time, wondering what he should do for the older boy for it. He realized with a slight uncomfortableness that he had absolutely no idea. He moved on from the math and was about to begin memorizing his lines when the doorbell rang. He heard his brother yell that he would get it, and popped his headphones on, and began to highlight his lines from the script. Demyx twitched when he felt someone slide the headphones off of his head. Usually he would turn around and frown and scold whoever had interrupted him, but he had picked up the scent of mint a bit before his head phones had been slid off his head. He felt long arms wrap around his shoulders and a head burying into his neck crevice.

"Zexion?"

"Just let me hold you."

Demyx smiled and leaned into the embrace for a few minutes before pulling away so that he could get out of the chair.

"Come here."

Demyx pulled Zexion with him over to his bed and sat down. Zexion gave a grateful smile and dropped himself onto the bed, his head falling into Demyx's lap. So much better.

"What's wrong?" Demyx asked his fingers brushing through Zexion's hair.

Zexion closed his eyes and curled up closer to Demyx. "Just tired."

"Tired?" Demyx repeated.

"Mm."

Demyx chuckled and slid in next to Zexion, wrapping his arms around him and spooning him, adjusting so that the blanket was somewhat covering them. "Then sleep."

A few seconds of silence passed before Zexion spoke up, "Demyx?"

"I thought you were tired."

Zexion turned around so that he was facing Demyx, their noses touching. It felt incredibly intimate. Something only lovers, people who _loved _each other did. At least that's what it felt like. "I love you."

Demyx blushed and kissed Zexion's cheek, "I love you too."

"Really?

"Madly, deeply, and without a doubt."

Zexion smiled and leaned in to kiss Demyx. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Demyx blinked as he felt a small box being pressed into his hand, he didn't look at it as he said, "but Valentine's Day isn't for another 3 days."

Zexion leaned back up on the bed and stared down at Demyx. HE smiled gently and brushed a hand through the blond hair, "I though I'd be original."

Demyx sat up and looked at the meticulously wrapped package in his hand. With a quick glance back at Zexion he began to unravel it, carefully, so as not to destroy any of the hard work Zexion had put into it. It was a can of mints. The can was blue, the picture on it slightly faded, and there was a small dent in it.

"Zexxy," Demyx said as he clutched the can to his chest and turned around with dreamy eyes at Zexion. "You kept it?" Instead of answering Zexion just bent down for a kiss instead.

The can had very emotional meaning to the both of them, and that Zexion had kept it, let alone remembered it, made Demyx's heart overflow with a joy that at least temporarily washed out all thoughts of anyone but Zexion. Zexion also remembered the incident with fondness.

Zexion had been fumbling with the zipper on his backpack, grumbling as he tried to get it shut. With a sigh he gave up and slammer his locker shut. He didn't have the patience for any of it today. He straightened out his uniform and turned to head out, except, instead of actually making it out of the building something collided with him. Zexion flinched as he fell backwards, a tiny box of mints flying out of his hand. The person he had collided with wobbled backwards, stepping on the box of tin mints, and falling to the ground.

"I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so ,so sorry," the boy babbled, frantically waving his arms around while trying to get up and help Zexion up.

"It's all right," Zexion mumbled checking himself for any damage.

"I'm sorry. Really. Oh no! Your mints!" the boy exclaimed as he picked up the almost flat box.

"It's all right," Zexion repeated finally looking up at the person he was talking to it. And it kind of took his breath away.

"I'm so-"

"You're beautiful."

The other boy blushed darkly and gave a shy smile. "I'm Demyx."

Zexion covered his mouth with his hand and blushed, realizing what he had said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."

"What's your name?"

Zexion uncovered his mouth and took the crushed box of mints out of the boy's hand. "I'm Zexion."

"Zexion… I think you're beautiful too."

Zexion was left perplexed by the situation and hadn't expected Demyx to show up again at his locker the next day.

"Zecxion!"

Zexion took a defensive position, something in his instinct telling him to protect himself, as Demyx launched himself in a gigantic hug at him. "Hey there Demyx," he mumbled, blushing a little bit because for the first time in awhile he felt awkward around someone.

"I'm sorry about your mints."

"I said it's okay."

"No, it's not. So I got you this."

Zexion stared at the blonds outstretched hand. In it was a small box of mints, blue and with a kitten printed on the cover, it had a small dent in it. The text on it said 'Mints' in small white letters. Demyx blushed and placed the box in Demyx's hands," Sorry about the dent. I'm a bit of a klutz."

And that was when Zexion had fallen in love, and decided to make the wonderful person cuddling with him his own.


	9. Stop Drinking

**Good Question: **I revised the way we met Axel's friend and changed some of the friends. Added a new scene with Marluxia and Roxas. I'm trying to round out some of the characters more like they were in my head.

:3 And thank you those of you who review, it's really the only reason I update.

**Chapter 9: **Stop Drinking

Roxas struggled to spend time together with Axel. The lack of contact was very concerning to him. In an effort to make himself feel a little better, he had even stopped hanging out as much with Namine. He was told that Kairi missed him but he kept telling them he was busy. It hurt a little bit. He was walking around the town in a sad stupor on one of the colder days, looking out of place and miserable. He wondered around near the coffee shop he liked but realized in dismay that he had left his wallet at home. He emptied his pockets outside of the café to see if he had any change. He lifted his head to the unforgiving winter sky and sighed.

He jumped about five feet when there was a tap at his shoulder. He turned around, pressing himself against the glass window that showed into the shop. He gulped.

"Hey there muffin-top," Marluxia said with a wicked grin, as he balanced a bag with something in it and a few books at his waist.

Roxas froze and set his eyes in a glare. If he looked hostile enough maybe his predator would leave. If he turned funny colors like some of the animals in the wild when threatened he thought he probably would've been able to escape. Marluxia leaned in close to him. "Have coffee with me."

Roxas shook his head and stammered, "No- I uh, I have places to go, I just got done."

Roxas attempted to turn away and leave but Marluxia tugged him back by the edge of his jacket. "Tut-tut, I just saw your fine behind cursing in front of the store because you have no money. My treat."

Marluxia whistled cheerfully as he gave no room for Roxas to protest. They sat down at a table and he instructed Roxas to order whatever he wanted to get. Roxas ordered and then almost shrank in his seat as he felt Marluxia's gaze bore into him. "You don't look quite as spry as you usually do," he remarked once they had their respective coffees.

Roxas looked up and stared at Marluxia with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"You seem a little… like you've lost some steam," Marluxia said, staring at him intently over his coffee, blowing on it so often.

'Oh,' Roxas thought. Only Marluxia would describe that as being spry, implying youth and fertility and by default sex. So basically Marluxia had told him that he didn't look as loud in bed as he usually did. Roxas snorted and stood up, ready to leave, but Marluxia halted him again.

"Sit down," he said pulling Roxas down by his scarf, "we're not done talking."

After a few more unsuccessful attempts by Roxas to flee he resigned himself to sit across from Marluxia, wondering what to say. Marluxia seemed to be waiting for something as he spun around the cream he had added into his coffee after finding it too bitter and without good taste. "If I tell you will you leave?" Roxas asked finally.

Marluxia grinned and almost batted his eye lashes at him, "I knew you'd confide in me. I think it goes to show just how meant to be we are."

Roxas rolled his eyes but talked to him anyway, "I just haven't been hanging around Axel as much recently. And other friends are a little bit busy so I've been just … bored." He hesitated before he said bored, almost admitting to loneliness.

There was a bit of silence that stretched between them before Marluxia spoke up again, having finished a good half of his coffee. "Be patient, he'll come around soon enough," Marluxia said, shocking Roxas.

Roxas looked up at Marluxia and saw the oddest smile on Marluxia's face. It was the type of smile an adult gives a young child when everything's going to be all right and they think you can make it. A mature look. It wasn't something he had expected from Marluxia. "Thanks," Roxas mumbled a little surprised.

Marluxia grinned, "Now can I touch your ass?"

Roxas couldn't even help but smile a bit at the comment, even if he did gather his things and only briefly thank Marluxia for the coffee. He was discovering that maybe they had some more common ground to walk on than he had at first expected.

Soon after the conversation with Marluxia, Roxas found himself seeing Axel more than he had been, not as much as usual, but still more. Practices had been made shorter with a promise of a rainy month with a lot of cold, leading to iced over roads. No one wanted to chance anyone dying in it. Roxas started riding home with Axel a bit more and fell back into a more comfortable zone, evening leaving the company of Demyx and Zexion more often now that Axel was available to hang out again.

The two were cooped up in Axel's room, playing a video game when Roxas decided to bring up something that he had been wondering about for quite some time. "It's not really any of my business, but I'm just wondering what all you've been up to during the time we didn't really see each other," Roxas said staring intently at the screen from Axel's bed, refusing to turn his head to see the reaction of the red head to his inquiry.

Axel didn't answer right away, instead concentrating on the game and the controller in his hand. He got to a good pausing point and thought about what he was going to say a little more. He turned his head back, his face illuminated in an almost surreal way by the light from the TV. "How would you like to meet some of my friends? They don't go to the school."

Roxas blinked, surprised, this was not the answer he had been expecting. He hadn't realized that Axel had friends outside of their school, although he probably should've assumed it to be true, after all, why would he not? "Where do they go then?" Roxas asked, seeing as there were only two high schools in Twilight Town, one a small public one for those who where kicked out of the academy. "The T- School?"

Axel shook his head, "No, they're a good time out of school. I mean, they're not all that old. But none of them go to high school anymore."

For some reason Roxas thought there was something maturely glamorous about Axel knowing people outside of high school, even more than knowing, being friends with. All of a sudden he felt really immature. Axel was so cool.

"I don't know, I'm not sure they'd like me," Roxas said with a laugh, meaning for it to be a joke. Axel face when he responded seemed a bit too serious for Roxas not to blush in the dark.

"They'll love you, after all, I like you, and my judgment can usually be trusted," Axel said in a matter of fact voice. "How's tomorrow sound?"

Roxas agreed and began to worry about a second set of introductions. He wasn't sure which one he felt more anxious about. When he had met Axel's family or now that he was to meet Axel's friends, ones that they did not share or Roxas hadn't even known of. It was important for him to make a good impression if he didn't want to forever ruin his chances at even getting a little bit of love and affection from Axel. He was so busy worrying, that he forgot Axel hadn't even answered his question.

Axel drove them the next day at about 6, when he assumed most of them would be at Marluxia's flat. Roxas felt relived to learn that at least two people he knew would probably be there, Marluxia and Larxene. He wasn't sure how he felt about those two people being his back up but he took what he could get. The two stood at the door and Axel rang the door bell. T hey stood for a minute as Axel went through his pockets.

"Shit! I'll be right back Roxas, I think I left the keys in the car," Axel said cursing, and taking off in a sprint down the 3 flights of stairs to the car.

Before Roxas could protest Axel was gone, and not long after the door in front of him opened.

"Huh!?!"

Roxas held his breath. Oh god. It reeked of beer. He took a wobbly step back trying to cover his nose when the man with the bear breath grinned and began to laugh, pulling him close and rubbing their faces against each other in some strange type of below, a bottle of beer still in one hand, sloshing dangerously from side to side. Roxas tried to escape from the grasp or even call for help, but the man had his throat in such a way that he couldn't get many sounds out. "You're the cutest boy-a I've ever seen. So young and shining with potential and light!"

"You been drinking before 5 again?" Axel asked with a laugh.

The man released Roxas suddenly, his entire being seeming to sober up. His expression was solemn only for a second before he broke out into a big grin, walking over to the smaller man to crush him in a hug.

"Not really, I'm a man of my word!" he said thumping his chest, taking about his person vow after the years never to start drinking before five unless special circumstances were involved. "I just never stopped drinking."

"Luxord, I can hear your liver screeching at me, crying for help. 'Stab him Axel, stab him!' it says," Axel said with a laugh as he walked over to the dazed Roxas. "I think you gave Roxas a bit too regular of a hello for your standards."

Luxord walked with them inside of the apartment, "Well, I figured if he was your boy he was used to it."

Axel had interesting thoughts rush through his head at the idea of Roxas being his boy but quickly banished them. "He's a friend and you're not setting a very good example."

Roxas finally recovered enough to sit down and attempt to listen to the conversation. Luxord was the man's name. He had the body and face of a man, a man that gambled and drank, but more than that, it showed a man of wit and someone who tried to live his life for the last drop of sweet poison at the end of its bottle.

"So who's place is this again?" Roxas asked, trying to make conversation.

Luxord seated himself on the couch across from Roxas while Axel fetched them drinks. "Marluxia's and Larxene's."

Roxas raised an eyebrow, he didn't think the two were related. "So they're roommates?"

Axel bit his lip. He knew the fun would have been blown if Roxas were to meet the rest of his friends, but he figure it was worth it. Luxord looked puzzled and went over to one of the cabinets and picked up a picture, he gave it to Roxas whose mouth dropped to gape wide open. "They're married ducky, have been for about 3 years."

Roxas made noises of protest and disbelief as Axel laughed and Luxord looked confused. Axel put their waters down on the table as Luxord finally put some pieces together even in his somewhat drunken stupor. "Oh! Roxas here, is one of Marluxia's pet projects."

Marluxia's pet projects is what they called cute boys that he liked to flirt with, even if he never seriously intended to do anything with them. He said he liked the chase, Larxene told him if he didn't quit some person might take his advances the wrong way and he'd end up in jail for rape or sexual harassment. Marluxia assured her he picked his subconsciously willing victims carefully. He made no mistakes. And most of the time, despite her concerns, she would go along with it. She figured as long as they were still good looking there was no stopping it. Roxas wasn't sure how he felt about that, and he felt a little deceived.

"I'm sorry," Axel said and handed Roxas a glass of water, "but, well, my loyalties lay elsewhere at the time."

Roxas huffed and fought a blush that was emerging from his embracement. Luxord swayed from side to side a little on the couch before stopping at staring at Roxas, "You know, it's all right. Marluxia's pretty convincing, he's good at it. H even convinced Ax-"

Roxas couldn't see it but Axel kicked Luxord under the small coffee table, giving him an intense glare. Luxord, although confused, knew that even in his drunken state or maybe even more so because of his drunken state, that he should shut up and just take all of his cues from Axel. So he sat patiently for the next one.

Roxas turned to look at Axel, completely weirder out by the focus Luxord was all of a sudden giving Roxas. Axel, having been around the man several times when he'd been drunk, sighed with frustration, "I'm not giving cues."

"Oh!" Luxord said straightening out and getting up. "I'm going to go drink water and sleep."

"Good idea big guy," Axel said as he watched Luxord walk into the bed room.

The door slammed and Roxas began conversation, "Interesting person."

"Yeah… he is, but he's great," Axel assured him. Roxas didn't feel much better about it, wondering if he really wanted to meet Axel's friends. But hey, whatever it took right? Before long the door opened and Marluxia stepped in with Larxene behind him. Marluxia gave Roxas a wink and a smile before launching into his usual drama and flirtation. Roxas stopped him with an outstretched hand, "I know about it."

Marluxia tried to look confused for a second but then gave in. He turned to glare at Axel, sure that he had been the one to ruin it. "Wasn't me! It was bound to come out," Axel protested.

"So you can stop that now," Roxas said drinking his water.

"Why in heaven's name would I stop? Who said anything about stopping?" Marluxia asked, holding a hand to his chest looking offended. "You're too easy to irritate to resists," Marluxia said and gave Roxas a sneaky kiss on the cheek.

Roxas wiped his cheek in disgust and pointed towards Marluxia. "You're okay with him doing this?!" he asked Larxene.

"Oh I think it's funny as fuck," Larxene said with a cold nature grin, she really did enjoy his misery.

"It'll get better," Axel tried to assure Roxas as he practically felt his hopes drain into the floor.

"Are all of your friends this messed up?" Roxas asked with a raised eyebrow, looking almost disapproving.

"Messed up!? Who _the _fuck! Are you calling, messed up?!"

Roxas yelped and crawled backwards in his seat, his heart leaping to his chest. A very threatening looking man had barged into the room and stuck his face in Roxas's yelling. He had a scar and an eyepatch and oh dear god he was terrifying.

"Huh!? Who?!"

Roxas shook his head, wondering if the man was going to mug him, even if the gray streak and the lines across his face suggested that he was too old to be mugging. Roxas tensed as the man stood up abruptly.

"I'm kidding, you're okay. Roxas right? Xigbar," he said with a crude laugh, taking Roxas's hand into his own and shaking it vigorously.

Axel laughed but worried at the same time, he was going to be in pain later today. Roxas did not appreciate these types of surprises and he hadn't exactly told his friends to ease him into it either.


	10. Baby, Red Ain't Your Color

**Good Question: **So, I kinda lost inspiration for this story but I sat down and wrote some today.

**Those of you who are returning readers from the old story: **No spoilers! Okay. We're getting to the juice of the story and Id don't want it ruined for anyone. This is the part where I have fun.

Also; Important mini-rant time.

My sister just showed me the trailer for the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. I almost cried. It'll be pretty, yes, but jesus christ what have they done with the story? The people? They've fucked up everything. I want to go burn what's his faces house and life down. I am so…. Angry at the creators of movies right now. Fucking artistic license needs to be abolished from the law books because it gives birth to disastrous monsters like this.

**Chapter 10: **Baby, Red Ain't Your Color

It had taken Roxas a little bit to get used to Axel's friends, but now that he had spent a little bit more time with them he was actually beginning to feel like he belonged in the city, instead of just having a few straggling people he knew. Luxord actually proved to be very good at listening and giving advice, admitted, he had yet to in any way mention his crush on Axel and he intended it to stay that way, no matter how intelligent he actually was. The only regrettable factor was that Axel's life had apparently picked up again, and they saw less of each other once more. It wasn't quite as bad because now he had a wider variety of things to do, and he found that any of them were more than willing to pick him up if he didn't want to take the tram.

Roxas leaned back in the swing, flipping over just enough so that his hair brushed against the thawing sand. He had been waiting for Axel for about a good hour now and he was beginning to feel like he had been ditched. It was the first time in several weeks that they'd really decided on a hang out time and Roxas was getting impatient and depressed. Axel did have a tendency to show up late but an hour or two was pretty drastic even for his favorite red head. Roxas grumbled to himself and swirled around in the swing, getting dizzier by the moment. He spun the swing so that things were in a blur around in. All of a sudden he stopped, wondering why, his head lolled to the side, a sick feeling worming up his stomach.

"Don't get sick, I'm not cleaning it up."

It hurt Roxas's eyes to open them but he didn't really need to, he knew the voice by heart. "I won't Axel. Glad to know you care."

"I'm very attentive don't you know."

Axel's voice was soft and laced with something Roxas wasn't sure he had ever heard in Axel's voice; some warmer edge to it that had only recently developed. He wasn't sure if he was the only one who had noticed it. By the time he managed to get his eyes fully open Axel had already made his way to the other swing, standing on it and pushing himself back and forth.

"Axel?"

"Roxy-baby."

Axel dropped himself into the seat of the swing and hung his hands lazily around the chains. He looked at Roxas expectantly waiting for him to continue. His eyes were so _green. _

"Nevermind. What took so long?" He asked trying to change the subject from what he was almost stupid enough to ask.

Axel rocked the swing hard and jumped off of it, landing in small crouch. He dug around in his pockets and finally pulled out something small. "Head's up," he called before he threw it at Roxas.

Roxas squeaked in surprise but caught the item nonetheless with reflexes he hadn't realized he had. "Axel! Don't' just throw stuff at me." He looked at the small item in his hand and fount it to be a glass figurine that he had been staring at every time he passed an accessory store in the market place. It was strange looking thing, in the shape of a key, but with an intricate heart shaped design carved into it at the end instead of a handle. Something about it was just so charming that he had wanted to have it. He had just never been able to afford it. He looked up at Axel with a shocked expression, mouth agape.

"You don't like it?" he asked with a fake pout, but Roxas didn't know this. Roxas sadly wasn't quite as good at reading Axel as Axel was at reading Roxas.

"No no! I love it! I love it so much," Roxas said holding up the tiny thing to the light and watching the light split the colors across his ski.

"You're welcome," Axel said with a grin and a chuckle as he watched Roxas play with it fascinated.

"But why?" Roxas asked turning in his swing to stare at Axel.

Axel shrugged and smirked instead of answering and began to walk off. "Let's go eat, I'm starving."

It took Roxas a few seconds to register that this was an actual plan and that Axel was leaving. He began to meander after him, playing with the figurine. It was beautiful and that Axel had somehow know that he had liked it, let alone bought him something so expensive, made something inside of him flutter and skip and he prayed that the fluttering and skipping would stop before it gave him some weird hopes, or worse, ideas that could turn into actions.

Sadly that fluttering feeling did go away, it was taken away in a cold sweep of Axel once more being busy. Even at school it seemed that Axel was always running some place and he finally thought he should bring that up with someone. He was actually looking for Luxord when he dropped by Marluxia's, seeing as it was almost guaranteed to find him at Marluxia's instead of his own apartment.

"Is Luxord here?" Roxas asked as he stepped into the apartment, swiftly dodging the ass slap he knew was coming from Marluxia.

"You're learning, damn it," Marluxia cursed with a grin as he closed the door. "No, he's not. I don't actually know where he is, I could give him a call? But I rather like the idea of the two of us having some alone time."

"It's not alone time if there's three of us," Larxene said from the kitchen, leaning against the counter. "Hey blondie."

"Back at you," Roxas said with a small smile, out of all the people that Axel was friend's yet, even with Marluxias advances, Larxene still made him the most nervous.

"Here on business or?" Larxene asked, "We're about to cook dinner and there's room for three."

Roxas smiled, for a crazy lady her cooking was magnificent. "I'll stay to eat, and I actually kinda wanted some advice from Luxord but if he's not here so be it."

Marluxia plopped onto the couch opposite the one Roxas sat on and crossed his legs. "Why don't you tell me? I promise I can be just as good," he said with a wink, putting an emphasis on the word 'good.'

"It's nothing big, just, wondering what Axel's been up to," he said with a small smile, trying to cover up the way his heart wrenched at the thought that maybe he had offended Axel somehow.

Marluxia tilted his head to the side and leaned back, "I think he's probably got a lot school work going on. It is the second semester and he's got college crunch time, getting applications in and everything. He'll be free again in no time, if anything you could probably corner him one day and ask him if you can help him with something."

Roxas hadn't even really thought about that. It escaped his mind sometimes what Axel being a senior meant. No wonder, January through March were usually the busiest times for seniors. But still, he wondered if there wasn't another reason. Marluxia rubbed Roxas's head and smiled, "You didn't do anything wrong."

Roxas blushed a little bit and tried to protest, Marluxia just 'tut tut'ed at him and moved into the kitchen to help Larxene with the cooking so that it would go faster. A grown man had to eat, and the rule was if he complained he didn't get anything at all so it was easier just to try and help. Roxas watched the two of them curiously. He had never seen them interact like this before, it was absurdly domestic, and insanely cute. He laughed to himself as Marluxia attempted to steal a spoonful of mashed potatoes and Larxene smacked him over the head with a wooden cooking spoon. Marluxia pouted at her and she gave him a quick kiss, both of their faces lighting up a little, and Roxas realized how much he wanted something like that with someone.

"Could you set up the table?" Larxene asked as she began frying the meat. Roxas nodded and got up, having eaten there often enough to know where all the plates and such were held.

Marluxia's predictions proved to be somewhat true. Roxas the next morning had managed to catch Axel in the cafeteria, he had come extra early just to try and catch him. It didn't stop him from grumbling slightly, still half asleep, as Axel plopped down at the table next to him.

"Still not very good at mornings are you?" Axel asked leaning on his hands to stare at Roxas.

Roxas looked up and wished have hadn't. His stomach clenched and his heart sped up at the concentration Axel was giving him. There was something new in Axel's eyes that just made him melt. He didn't remember feeling this before. He was hoping it was good changes on Axels part and not bad ones on his. Instead of answering with something witty or sarcastic, Roxas blushed and quickly dipped his head back to his coffee.

"You're cute."

Roxas buried his head deeper into himself but glanced up surprised as he felt Axel's long finger brush against his cheek. "Sorry to ditch, but I have to go beat my fan club to my locker, see you after school?" he said with a warm laugh that made Roxas want to sing love songs about it. The moment that Axel had left the cafeteria he crumbled and sighed wistfully. He let his head slip down to the icy table. He was becoming so unsure of where he stood with Axel. He had noticed that even though they spent less time together, there were more touches, random hugs, and in general a feeling of greater affection, and Roxas couldn't figure out what in the world it could mean. He almost let himself conclude that Axel was turning gay for him but he couldn't let himself be that optimistic.

-

Axel paced outside of Naimne's room. He wasn't sure if it was proper to ask his younger sister about what he was wondering about, but she was a girl, and had more knowledge than he had ever had at that age, socially and academically.

"Axel?"

Axel turned sharply and almost banged his elbow on the door.

"Namine."

Namine balanced her school binder against her waist with all of her other books and walked around Axel to open her door. She set her things down on her desk and seated herself in her swivel chair turning back to look at Axel. She had been at evening tutoring session so that she could attempt to skip a grade.

"Is there something you needed?" she asked with a smile.

Axel fidgeted a bit before walking into her room. Namine had been ill as a child and thus had missed a year, almost two of schooling. An almost 8th grader when it really came down to it with the maturity of someone in high school and beyond, Axel convinced himself, had to know plenty about relationships.

"I have a question. Well, a few questions actually, maybe I think."

Namine leaned back in her chair and indicated that he should find a place to sit, she felt vaguely like a therapist. Which wasn't too bad because it was a career choice she had been toying with after watching a few movies and having met the man that Reno had gone to when he was younger, he had become a family friend. "Yes?"

"Well you see… there's this person I like, well, I think I like, I do like," axel began, his hands fidgeting with the hem of shit shirt. This immediately caught Namine's interest.

"Go on."

"The thing is… I'm not sure if liking this person… it's well…I really like this person okay? Already as a friend for one I mean that's always going to be there. But, I'm really not sure what the hell to do about it," Axel sighed as he leaned his head back against the wall. "Or even if they feel remotely the same way. Actually, there may be a chance but still."

Namine laughed internally somewhere in the back of her mind that Axel was coming to her for advice, then again, he had always been a bit of a klutz with what little relationships he actually managed to make work. He didn't date much because of his popularity, he never knew what reasons someone had for wanting to date him.

"Mmm."

"And I'd hate to ruing something good for something impulsive because none of this makes sense at all. I'm still kinda working on it. Or something. I've never felt like this towards…" Axel curled up on Namine's bed, deciding that enough information had been given to give advice.

"Well… I'd say the only way to relieve this situation is to either wait it out, which is pretty painful from what I have heard, or do something about it," Namine said, thinking careful about how to push her brother in the right direction. She had a pretty solid feeling that she knew who her brother was slowly developing feelings for, and she was all for it working out.

"Do something about it?" Axel repeated staring at Namine's ceiling.

"Act on what you feel is right," Namine said with a nod.

"The hell kinda advice is that?" Axel moaned covering his face with his hands.

"Mine."

Axel laughed and rolled out of the bed, going to the door. "You're too precious."

Namine grinned and gave Axel a quick way as he walked out of the room, "Anything for the family." She immediately picked up the phone.

--

"_Roxas." _

"_Roxas?!" _

Roxas blinked and looked around his dark room. Where the hell was that voice coming from? It sounded strangely like Namine, what was she doing in his room at this time of night? What was she doing in his room at all?

"_Roxas!!" _

Roxas jumped in surprise and jerked up in his bed, his phone falling from his hand. He felt it fall and stared at for a few seconds wondering what was going on. It took him a few seconds to realize that there was someone on the phone, talking to him.

"Oh."

He picked it up, wondering why it was on. "Hello?"

"Finally. You picked up and then you just didn't answer."

Roxas adjusted a little bit as he tried to find the switch for his lamp. "Namine?"

"Yes! I have exciting news to tell you."

Roxas shifted in his bed and propped up a pillow so he could lean on it.

"I think Axel likes you."

"I know he does, we're friends."

"No! I mean as in, likes you likes you."

Roxas laughed, "I must still be sleeping because I thought you just said that Axel liked me.

He could hear Namine laughing on the other end in glee, "You're not sleeping and I did say that. Axel talked to me today about someone he liked but he felt very confused about because he had never felt like that before!"

Roxas's hands began to tremble, he swallowed nervously trying to battle down every single emotion in his body, "Really?"

"Roxas, would I mess with you about this of all things?"

"No… you're… god damn you're right. You're too kind hearted for that."

"Oh I don't know about kind but it'd make me happy to see both of you happy."

Roxas clutched his stomach, trying to fight down the butterflies and the yells and squeals that were about to erupt from him. "That's lovely."

"I can tell you're wanting to explode so I'll get off and let you rest, just, figured I'd let you now. Listen, I'm inviting you to dinner tomorrow at our house, to give Axel ah… a little encouragement, you're welcome to show up a little early, I'll leave a note for Axel on the fridge. I think he's got plans for the day starting early so I won't be able to catch him."

"Okay. All right. Yeah. That sounds great. Let's do that," Roxas said babbling.

"Good night Roxas."

"Good night Namine."

That night, Roxas dreamt of fire.

--

The next day Roxas managed to catch Namine at the door. She smiled as she dug her keys out of her coat pocket. "Hey there, just in time."

Roxas smiled, they were both giddy for a good reason. A little good news had filled both of them with cheer. "I think Axel's already home, his car's here, I'd check in his room first," she said as she opened the door for both of them and hung up her coat.

"You think he knows I'm coming over?" Roxas asked as he hung up his own coat.

"He should, I did leave him a note, but he may have missed it. Oh well, not like he ever minds when you're over."

"Thanks Namine," he said as he wandered up the stairs and down the hall to Axel's room.

-

Roxas felt sick.

He wished he could throw up. He almost thrust a finger down his throat on the spot, like the bulimic girls in the health videos did in class, it seemed almost so worth it if it would make the ugly feeling go away. Roxas wished he could cry and throw a fit, but his pride kept him controlled.

Roxas knew he should move, leave, even closing the door fully would've been a good idea instead of standing there, but he couldn't. Instead, his legs collapsed underneath him and he slid to the ground with no sound, his eyes unable to turn away from what he could see from the cracked open door. Something caught in his throat, something painful and heavy, he blinked away the tears that were trying to materialized.

_He _moaned **her **name.

Roxas could feel his heart breaking apart as her hands began to peel away at his clothes.

'Roxas! Out! Now!' his mind yelled at him, trying to save him from the pain. Roxas bit his lip tightly to keep from whimpering and stood up slowly, almost falling down twice as he tried. 'Leave now!' The door was only a little bit open, and having spent a lot of time in Axel's room, he knew that the last inch would close without a sound.

After closing the door he headed down the hallway and down the stairs.

He felt sick.

"Roxas?"

Roxas turned to see Namine approaching him from the kitchen with a worried expression. "You don't look so great. What's wrong?"

Roxas gave a weak grin, "Yeah. I'm fine Namine! Thanks for worrying." He almost wanted to resent her for the hopes, but he knew she had believed it too.

"Leaving? I thought we were going to eat?" she asked, suspicious and worried.

"Ah, yeah. Axel's busy. I don't think he wants me here today. Thank you tho'," Roxas said as he slipped into his shoes, leaving his coat behind and heading out of the house.

Namine frowned as she watched Roxas leave. She really liked Roxas and it bothered her that he looked so stricken. What had happened during the minutes she had been downstairs preparing some food? If Axel was busy it wouldn't have been such a bad reaction, she didn't think. He looked like he had just seen death or something equally unpleasant. She went up the stairs and crept down the hall to her brothers room.

She heard it before she saw it, and she wasn't sure which disgusted her more.

"Axel!" She yelled throwing the door open, anger boiling in her veins.

The two people on the bed jerked and quickly covered what little had been uncovered with a hand and a pillow.

"Nami- Wait, what?! What are you doing?! Fucking knock," Axel said with a bright red face as he sat up trying to cover her from view.

Namine stared almost coldly at her brother. Oh god how it must have hurt. She felt so bad for him, and guilty, so guilty. Her heart ached for Roxas. "You're… so stupid," Namine said softly, her anger quickly evaporating, maybe even she had been wrong, even if she still believed she wasn't. She turned around and left, leaving a bewildered Axel in her wake.


	11. Burn Mark

**Good Question: **I wasn't going to update for awhile but you guys get a new chapter because **WE ****WON****!!! **I watch Olympic hockey and Finland fucking won bronze against Slovakia. I'm so proud right now. So here's a victory chapter for you guys.

Also, got my new tattoo, so I took a mini break because of that. It's only a few days old but I'm happy with it.

Also; I got a heavy amount of backlash for the scene with Axel last time I wrote this, and no matter what I'm always going to keep it. I will also keep all of the things that I think should be in the story in it. (A lot of people also have problems with the DemyxZexionRoxas thing and while it is most def. toned down, I'm never going to write it out. It has it's place in the plot. )

**Chapter 11: **Burn Mark

Roxas did not cry for his broken heart until he had safely made it home and into the dark confines of his room. His shoulders shook as he tried to gasp for breath to calm himself. His hands clenched tightly around the fabric of his shirt where his heart was. He slipped in quietly and turned on the lava lamp he had sitting in the corner. Roxas collapsed onto his bed and bit his lip.

Axel was straight. He'd known that.

He curled up into a tight ball and sobbed into his hands. He felt like an idiot for crying. He had let himself think that there was a way to change Axel's sexuality. The entire idea was absurd and if his emotions hadn't clouded him, he probably would have never even let himself get so wrapped up in an impossible idea. Maybe Axel wasn't straight, maybe things could've changed, maybe the friendly flirting was more. He spent the evening crying himself to sleep.

Roxas groaned as he felt a familiar hand at his back, but that didn't matter, because he was not in the mood for people, he wasn't in the mood for anything but being alone in his bed. "Demyx, please go away," Roxas croaked out, his voice stuffy from crying and raspy from just waking up. But Demyx didn't listen, instead, he laid down slowly in the bed next to Roxas and pulled him into a warm hug.

"Nami called me." Roxas didn't respond with anything but a body twitch, "So, me and Zexion came to check up on our favorite baby," Demyx whispered into Roxas's ear, gently brushing his fingers through Roxas's hair in an effort to make him feel better.

"I can't be your child. That would mean we're incestual interests for each other and Jesus smites a gay man every time you participate in incest," Roxas grumbled.

Demyx laughed, "Zexion's making some tea," he mumbled rubbing circles along Roxas's shoulders. "We checked on you a bit earlier too but you looked like you needed your sleep."

Roxas sighed, giving up a little bit. They were here to take care of him at the expense of their own time. He turned around and let Demyx wrap his arms fully around him and cuddled into him. Even if it wasn't Axel the comfort and love was welcome. It felt really good to be wrapped in someone's arms. Demyx smiled and began to give little tickling kisses to Roxas, who squirmed, laughing a little bit trying to get him to stop. Demyx laughed and gave a big kiss onto his forehead, "Much better."

Roxas looked up at Demyx with tired eyes, "Thank you."

"Do you want Zexion to bring the things upstairs or can you make it downstairs?"

"I'm already upstairs, it'd be a waste if we all just went downstairs. This stuff is heavy."

Roxas lifted up enough to see Zexion at the door with a big tray and a sympathetic smile on his lips. His heart hurt for his friend. Roxas sat up and scooted on his bed to make room for Zexion as he took his tea. He smiled and smelt the tea he had been given.

"Are there, mints in this?" Roxas asked unsure.

Zexion smiled and crawled into bed behind all of them against the wall, Roxas and Demyx both leaning against him. "I like mints."

Roxas laughed a little bit, he didn't feel quite as alone as he had a few hours ago. He sipped at his tea and as his two friends talked he found himself feeling peacefully sleepy, he didn't think he could be tired anymore but he was proven wrong. When he woke up again the next morning, to his surprise, he found himself sandwiched between Zexion and Demyx, both of their arms flung over him. At first he wondered why they were there, completely forgetting what had happened the day before. Even with the many sleepovers they'd had, he still felt confused when he woke up with another person in his bed, let alone two. He began to recall what had happened during the day and groaned, snuggling his face into Demyx's chest trying to get the horrifying image out of his mind.

'How the hell am I going to face him?'

Demyx stirred in his sleep and blew out a puff of air that ruffled Roxas's hair. Roxas smiled a little bit and closed his eyes, letting his body relax between the. He could be strong about it all, he could be strong if other people were there to be strong with him. With care not to disturb Demyx and Zexion he wormed his way out of the bed. He sat up and vaulted himself over Demyx's body and banged his knee lightly as he hit it against the edge of the bed. Roxas looked back to make sure he hadn't woken either of them. The two had been with him for a good part of the day before, he had spent the evening breaking down and sobbing out to them what had happened with Axel with a mix of vicious self-hatred. Demyx of course had done his best to make him smile and turn things positive, any positive he could find, which wasn't quite so easy. Zexion mainly listened and offered some basic advice. He felt guilty for being so difficult on them. He had found his way into the kitchen without turning any of the lights on, it was still a little dark but he was expecting the sun to come up soon, Tina was still sleeping and he didn't want to wake her up by turning on all the lights downstairs.

"Ouch." Roxas winced as his already bruised knee smacked against the table in the kitchen. He turned on one of the smaller lamps so that he had enough lighting to make himself a nice cup of coffee. He had no intention of going back to sleep.

"Some people drown their sorrows in alcohol, you drown yours in coffee, one up for you."

Roxas put a hand over his heart as he jumped, turning around, his eyes wide. "You scared me!" Roxas hissed, rolling his eyes.

Demyx chuckled and went over to Roxas, snuggling against him as they waddled in the kitchen, Roxas protesting because he couldn't move like that. "Well, you woke me up with your gymnastic attempts at getting out of bed."

Roxas stopped his protests as he blushed and mumbled an apology. He had honestly tried not to wake anyone up, especially not by weird acrobatics. "Is Zexion up?"

"Nope. Just me."

"Good, I feel guilty enough for one I don't need two people disrupted," Roxas mumbled as Demyx led him to the couch, "he gets so little sleep anyway."

"Don't be so hard on yourself Roxy-baby," as the words left his mouth Demyx covered his mouth, panicking. "Shit, sorry."

Roxas shook his head slowly, "It's fine."

Demyx pouted and kissed Roxa's hand as an apology, kneeling in front of him, "Still…. Sorry. But," he thought about how to bring it up, "have you thought about what you're going to do?"

"Do?"

"Mmm… well," Demyx sighed as he sat down next to Roxas, pulling the smaller boy in. "You shouldn't exactly avoid Axel I guess, or rather can't. I know you haven't told him how you feel and as far as I can tell he doesn't know that you saw him either. So, I dunno, in his world right now, nothing bad has happened and all things are normal." Demyx began to babble as he tried to explain what he was thinking as best he could without offending or hurting the boy more. He attempted to use his hands to explain it better but frantic arm movements did nothing.

Roxas smiled and laughed, grabbing Demyx's hands, "You're going to break something if you keep doing that. And I'm going to do nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"Why" Demyx asked, not really thinking about what other options other than nothing there could be. Confrontation?

"Well, what is there do to? Nothing really. Life'll go on as it always has, I just have to find someone else's sexy bottom to obsess about," Roxas said simply, trying to be realistic to himself and the situation, even if he knew it would be so much harder than he knew the words sounded like. Although his voice was no longer raspy and it actually sounded confident, he felt nothing of the sorts. He still felt like his life had been shattered and there was no moving beyond it, that he should have died the night before but his body just hadn't caught up with the idea.

"You've still got me and Zexy."

Roxas smiled and lifted his head to place a soft kiss, to Demyx's surprise, on Demyx's cheek. "I know I do. Thank you."

A ping from the kitchen interrupted what Demyx was going to say next. Roxas excused himself and disappeared into the kitchen to make himself coffee and try and quickly make Demyx tea.

Demyx closed his eyes and lifted his arms over the. He was usually really good at cheering people up but he wasn't sure how to handle this situation at all. A part of him wanted Roxas to feel immediately better and go on with his life but he knew that was impossible, probably better than a lot of people. Roxas seemed truly infatuated with the red head so an instant recovery to a happy life again wasn't going to be possible. And yet, there was a part of him that he hated, that was slightly relieved. Because Axel was still straight. His heart hurt less because of it and it also meant that it didn't threaten what good he had with Zexion. Even if it hurt Roxas. But it was okay, because he and Zexion would fix it, make it better, take care of him and love him.

Of course, Demyx being the care-free, share-the-love type of person that he was, hadn't realized just how much Zexion wanted him to himself, or understand really the possessiveness that Zexion had to deal with everything the threesome situation emerged.

"Don't think too hard, you'll get wrinkles in your brain."

"I thought the wrinkles were good for you," Demyx replied, taking his hands away from his eyes and looking up at Zexion, who had come downstairs at some point. Zexion laughed and leaned down, kissing Demyx sweetly. Demyx stuck out his tongue at him and made Zexion chuckle. Demyx whispered something to him and pointed to Zexion's phone, there was a favor that Demyx wanted Zexion to finally call in. Zexion nodded and after a quick conversation about Roxas mostly held by Demyx, the two of them entered to find Roxas practically molesting his coffee cup. Zexion walked behind Roxas and slung his arms around his shoulders, leaning onto him.

"No good morning?" he asked as he nuzzled against the nape of Roxas's neck.

"Good morning," Roxas said, a small smile crawling onto his face.

"Roxas smiled!" Demyx exclaimed as he walked to the two of them. He had grown impatient of just watching the love and wanted to join it. Demyx squished into the two of them. Roxas laughed and put his coffee on the table not wanting it to spill.

Zexion began to speak, "So Roxas, you have any pl-"

"What do you want for breakfast!"

Zexion would've glared if it had been anyone else but Demyx interrupting him.

"Whatever you want to make," was Zexion's response and Roxas simply mumbled something vague.

"No, it doesn't work like that," Demyx said as he began to take stuff out of the cupboards for cooking, figuring he would need them no matter what he made.

"Waffles," Zexion suggested, and Roxas agreed. As Demyx began to cook Zexion turned his attention back to Roxas.

"Anyway, do you have any plans for today?"

Roxas took a sip of his coffee and gave a shaky smile, "I was going to spend it with Axel but I don't think I can face him just yet."

Zexion nodded, understanding, "So you've got the day completely free?"

"Yup."

"Good. Demyx and I are going to take you out then," Zexion said moving to sit in his own chair.

Roxas put down his coffee cup that he had just been about to take a sip of," Take me out?" he asked, he wanted to be sure of the implications before anything began, he knew how Zexion felt.

"A date Roxas," Zexion teased, trying to let Roxas know that he was actually kinda okay with the plan for the day.

Roxas blushed a little bit, "I know what taking out means. I was just checking. The three of us?"

"Are going on a date," Demyx interrupted as he held three glasses. "Here, take one, because if you don't, in 3 you'll find them on the floor."

They each reached for a cup so that Demyx could resume cooking.

"When did you decide this?" Roxas asked Zexion, his voice a little quieter and unsure.

"It's all right," Zexion said as Roxas drooped h is head a little bit. He knew how big of a change or sacrifice Zexion was making for him.

"Come on Roxas! You can't be depressed right now! Here, have a waffle," Demyx said giving Roxas the first one that he hade made, having drawn a smiley face on it with the jam and whipped cream he had acquired. Roxas laughed and couldn't help but feel his mood lift a little bit.

-

Roxas blushed as Zexion opened the door to the café for him.

"I can open doors you know," Roxas mumbled, trying to hide how special it really made him feel.

Zexion smiled quietly to himself as Demyx pushed Roxas forward," You know you love it, we know you love it, it's kinda public knowledge at this point."

The café was small and cozy, with two sections, one you had to always reserve to get into, the other was more open. Nothing too big but they had some of the best food and it was almost impossible to find sitting room during the weekend unless you had reserved a spot, which cost a hefty bit of munny, or you came early enough to grab one before anyone else did. The only café to ever have lines outside of it. It was mid-day, so Roxas was surprised they had gotten in at all, and that there was an empty table towards the back. It was his favorite table too from the few times he had visited. It was the only table that let the light from the outside glimmer in just the right way without blinding, with comfortable lounge chairs and one sofa that faced the big window so that one could see the park gates that were opposite of the café. Roxas looked around confused wondering why no one was sitting at the only open table, there was a small line of people waiting to get in.

"Don't just stand there," Demyx whispered as he nudged Roxas towards the table.

Roxas blinked confused as he watched Zexion talk to one of the waitresses. He was forced to turn back around by Demyx and when they got the table Roxas almost fainted. There was a little triangular card on the table which read, 'Reserved for Roxas and Company'.

"Did… you guys?" Roxas asked, turning around to face Demyx with a wide eyed face.

"Do you like it?" Demyx asked, holding his hands behind his back. He had remembered a long time ago when they had randomly seen each other in front of the café, and had waited in line with each other to try and get in only to be turned away at the end because it was closing time.

Roxas grinned and flung his arms around Demyx, the two of them half dancing in the hug. "You could've brought me to the usual place," Roxas mumbled, hiding the huge grin he had on his face in the nape of Demyx's neck.

"But this is a date and it was supposed to be special," Demyx said as he helped Roxas into his seat.

Zexion had watched the entire display and snuck a kiss onto each of their cheeks. "We're glad you like it," Zexion said to Roxas as he sat down. Roxas nodded, blushing behind his bangs, which made Zexion chuckle.

"Are you ready to order?" A bright voice asked.

The group turned around to find a young kid with brown hair that stood out in spikes, and blue eyes. He had a grin that split his face in half almost and a very bright demeanor. "Welcome to La Fe Clochette. My name is Sora and I'll be your waiter today!"

"Sora, wrong table."

Sora turned around confused. "Nuhuh."

Roxas shifted in his seat to get a better look at the other man who had spoken. He looked older than the other waiter with long hair and sharp eyes.

"Check the list again," the boy said, "I'm so sorry for the inconvenience."

Roxas shook his head and smiled as Demyx began to chat with Sora. "Oh not, it's fine…. Riku." He paused a moment to search for the name tag all the employees wore.

"He's a good worker but perhaps not always the most perceptive," Riku said with a half smile, Roxas noticing the quick almost tender glance that he sent Sora's way. "I'll send him out of your hair and then I can take your orders. Sora, I think they need you in the kitchen," he said trying to get him back to work and not disrupting the customers.

"Noo. You forgot, they kicked me out of the kitchen, I have to stay on the outside or they'll chop whatever part of me goes in off," he said as he leaned over one of the couches, thoroughly enjoying the conversation he was having with Demyx and Zexion.

Riku ran a hand through his hair trying to find a tactful way to, well, fix the horribly embarrassing situation, he was saved from making an excuse as someone called Sora's name.

"Oops, gotta go. I hope you guys come back soon!" Sora said as he made his way to the manager that had called his name.

"Now, my name is Riku, and I will be your waiter for your stay," Riku said as he pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen from his apron. "What would you like?"

"It's the special," Zexion said before any of them could get a word in. "Aerith'll know what you're talking about."

Riku nodded and scribbled down something on his pad, and then showed it to Zexion who nodded in agreement to make sure it was the right thing. "Alright then. I'll return shortly."

"What's the special?"

"Yeah, I wasn't told about this part," Demyx added, just as confused as Roxas.

"You'll see," Zexion said with a cryptic smile, just because this was for Roxas didn't mean he couldn't actually try and be sweet to his real boyfriend.

Once it came to the table Roxas almost fell over with glee. The last time that he had eaten it was before he had moved. Roxas stared at Zexion in awe.

"How… how did you find out?" he asked.

Zexion shrugged, "Tina and I happen to talk a lot."

Roxas smiled and went over to Zexion, gently wrapping his arms around the taller boy in a soft hug. "Thank you."

Zexion smiled and kissed Roxas on the top of his head, "My pleasure."

The special that Zexion had requested was a dish that Roxas hadn't seen really anywhere but Destiny Island. It was a heated up chocolate cake muffing type thing, saturated with actual melted chocolate. There was a ball of vanilla ice cream that was covered in chocolate which was hardened. With it were two strawberries and caramel. He never finished one himself so he was glad to have other people to share it with.

"That looks good," Demyx said, his eyes already eating the thing.

"It is," Roxas said with a smile as he took the first bite, he visibly relaxed.

"That good?" Demyx wondered as he spooned himself a piece. His eyes shone as he put the sweet into his mouth, almost curling up on the chair and purring if he could've.

Demyx scooped up a bit for Zexion and blushed. The way he ate it was a bit too suggestive for him not to.

"Anything else you need?" Riku asked making Roxas jump a bit, he had moved close to Roxas not wanting to disturb what was going on between Demyx and Zexion.

Roxas shook his head with a s mile, "No. Thank you. Who, other than those two, can I thank fo this food?"

"Our cook, Cid. I'll let him know that you gave him your compliments. And just call me over if you need anything," Riku said with a smile after re-filling their water glasses for them.

He laughed as he watched Demyx, red face, go back to the food, eating it almost defensively. Roxas looked up at Zexion, they shared a look of shared knowledge and laughed, leaving Demyx confused and needing to take a cold shower.


	12. Pleasure

**Good Question: **New chapter in celebration of Canada beating the US in hockey. Yay.

We finally start getting into what the hell Axel's been up to this entire time. And the reunion of Roxas and Axel. Too soon? Maybe. But I'm ok with that.

**Chapter 12**: Pleasure

Axel could not figure out where Roxas was. After Namine's outburst the day before everything seemed to have gone weird around him. It wasn't like Roxas to skip out of a hang out date without letting him know that something was up. He was worried. What if something had happened to Roxas? And there were several reasons why that would be a bad thing. He also couldn't figure out why Namine was mad at him. He didn't think she a vendetta against pre-marital sex and he knew she was fine with him bringing people home with him, regardless of gender, so he was completely stuck on reasons. Axel was a little relieved that she had shown up when she did. In all honesty, it had helped him figure out a way to stop things from going further than in the end both of them would have probably regretted.

"What a mess," he said to his ceiling, staring at it and trying to decipher answers.

Axel was a social butterfly and some fundamental part of him didn't like being plain straight ignored, and today he didn't even have Kairi to entertain him because she was at a friends house. Axel had actually sort of planned the day. A few times he had picked up his phone to call Roxas but each time didn't dial a number because he figured if Roxas wanted to call him he would, or something, and his gut feeling told him to wait. He quickly grew tired of moping around the house, pulled on a warm hoodie, and told Namine's door (because she was still ignoring him) that he was leaving and that he'd call if he was going to be too late, though he doubted she particularly cared. The girl could be quite a little … cruel girl, when she wanted to be.

Ten minutes later he found himself in front of Marluxia's apartment, they were always up for some fun. He hopped out of the car and didn't bother to lock up, no one would want anything in his car. He had gotten to the entrance to the apartment building before running back and locking up his car. He went up the stairs 3 steps at a time and arrived at the door in no time, he knocked briefly before walking in, the door was rarely locked.

"Yo! Anyone home?" he called out.

"Axel! Close the door!" Axel sprang against the door, slamming it shut as he watched Xigbar appear in the hallway, taking a sharp turn around the corner.

"Hurry! Catch it! It's coming your way!" Xigbar yelled, vaulting over a couch as the thing he was chasing changed directions.

"What?!" Axel asked bewildered, his eyes scanning the ground.

Axel didn't have to look long before he saw it, or rather, was mauled by it. A dog that he recognized all too quickly jumpe dup his leg and into his arms. She was shaking.

"Jesus christ, what did you do to her?" Axel asked as he brushed his fingers through her white fur.

"We didn't do anything," Luxord said walking in from the kitchen, a freshly sharpened knife in his hand.

Axel stared at the knife, giving them an 'oh really?' look, before double checking the collar to make sure it was Butterskotch. "Is Roxas over here?" he asked as the dog began to clam down.

"Oh, Roxas dropped her off earlier this morning," Xigbar said, attempting to bribe the dog over to him with a piece of meat. Axel's hand stopped petting Butterskotch long enough for her to start whining before he continued, "Ah."

"Something happen?" Luxord asked, getting a second piece of meat out and making faces at the dog trying to get it to leave Axel.

"I don't know. Why do you ask?" Axel asked, reminding himself that there was a perfectly logical reason why Roxas hadn't contacted him.

"No reason, Roxas just seemed a bit off and you seem a little lost," Luxord mentioned as he moved to the couch, giving up, and taking a swig of beer that he had left on the table. "Here," he said, with enough warning for Axel to place the dog down to catch the beer that Luxord threw at him.

"Out of it? Me?" Axel asked as he popped it open.

"It's not every day we get to see the great Axel in his pajamas," Xigbar said, noticing as Luxord had that Axel hadn't protested the beer. He usually only drank a bit during parties and special occasions.

Axel looked down confused and realized that as it had been so kindly pointed out to him, he was still wearing the loose fire pattern slacks that he had worn to bed. "I didn't notice."

"I figured," Xigbar said with a snort, "so what's a happened?"

Axel contemplated for a few seconds, but couldn't figure out even for himself what was wrong. "I don't know, but Roxas and I were supposed to hang out today, but he hasn't called."

"You'll probably see him at school, and he seemed like he was busy, he had to drop Butterskotch off here because there wasn't going to be anyone to watch him," Luxord said trying to console him a little bit.

Xigbar grumbled and gave up trying to grab the dog, "Well, you could always return the dog for us, and at the same time invite him to the party Marluxia's holding here next weekend. We forgot to ask this morning. We were a little too preoccupied not being able to say no to taking the dog."

"Not a problem," Axel said, glad to have an excuse to drop by Roxas's house without seemingly like he was overly worried about something small. "That being cleared up, you got anything to eat?"

-

A few hours later, it was already starting to stretch into the evening, Axel arrived at Roxas's house. He didn't even bother to wait after he rang the doorbell to walk in, he had been told he was always welcome at their house and shouldn't bother to wait.

"Anyone home?" he called out as he gently set Butterskotch to the ground.

Tina appeared around the corner with a bright smile, "Axel!" she exclaimed giving him a hug which he gladly returned, "I haven't seen you in awhile. How've you been?"

Axel shrugged and smiled back, "Busy, very busy."

Tina nodded and ushered him further into the house. "You came at a bad time, I'm afraid Roxas is out on a date with some people, I don't know when he'll be back."

Axel felt his stomach knot up a little bit and felt panicked. "I see. Well, I just came to return the dog."

Tina opened her mouth to say something and cursed as a certain ringtone rang on her phone. She glanced at the number and answered sounding frustrated, "What do you need?"

Axel couldn't help but overhear a bit of the conversation and recognized the other person as his brother.

"Yes… I'll come right away… uhuh… no, no! Don't touch it," Tina ordered before hanging up. She gave an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry Axel. Would you mind dog sitting until Roxas gets back? Or I get back home?"

Axel shrugged and swallowed back an uncomfortable feeling, "That's fine. Not like I have much to do anyway."

"Thanks hun," she said with another quick hug and she was out the door.

Several slow hours passed by him, he thought he had consumed about enough water and coke to fill up an ocean two times over. He almost fell asleep but woke up as he heard a loud bang outside, like someone was closing a car door. Butterskotch began to bark and ran to the door excitedly. Axel sat up and went to the door, assuming it was Roxas. He stopped and glanced out the window to see who it was first, just to make sure. It was Roxas. He leaned in closer to the window to see what was going on. Roxas was kissing Demyx goodbye, and for some reason, Axel had to clutch at his heart and stomach to try and get them to quiet down. He cursed a bit, wondering what the hell was going on, it meant that it had failed or rather, it hadn't told him anything useful. For he felt no wiser standing there in the window, feeling crushed. It had never bothered him before, the way they had acted around each other. And it made him angry. He scooted back from the window quickly as Roxas went to the door and opened it.

"Tina?" he called out.

"Nope, just me," Axel said, feeling quite depressed.

Roxas jumped a foot and slammed the door shut, the door having slipped from his fingers. "Jesus!" Roxas yelled out, his eyes wide and his heart beating rapidly in his chest.

"No, Axel. Or have you forgotten me already?" he teased, trying to lighten the mood he was in.

Roxas tried not to smile but he couldn't help it. "I could never forget you," he said as half of his heart tried to claw it's way out of his chest and out of the house.

"You never called," Axel mentioned idly, trying to keep the accusation out of his voice.

"Oh… I well," Roxas began not sure what to say, "Namine, Namine said you were busy," Roxas lied.

Axel tilted his head to the side, he didn't think that Namine would lie or be that mad at him, but it was entirely possible that he had made her so angry that she would get back at him passive aggressively. "Well, I'm not right now. Wanna go somewhere?" Axel asked, hopeful to patch up whatever was wrong between them. Roxas was getting easier to read, and he could tell that something was upsetting him and making the air between them thick.

Roxas gave a small smile and tried to think of an excuse, instead, the excuse bit his leg.

"Ow!!" Roxas yelped, shaking his leg.

Axel sprang to Roxas's defense, prying Butterskotch off of his leg," Bad girl!" Axel scolded, smacking the dog on the bottom.

"Fu-jes-christ-damn it!" Roxas let out as he watched a bit of blood seep through the jeans he as wearing.

Axel immediately turned back to Roxas, letting the dog go. "You're bleeding!"

"No fucking shit. Did you figure that out all by yourself?" Roxas snapped.

Axel pouted but didn't say anything. He stood up and lifted Roxas into his arms. Roxas immediately began to protest, turning bright red and blushing, not even his anger being able to hide the effect Axel had on him. "Axel! Put me down!"

Axel shook his head as he led Roxas through the house and into the living room, amazingly dodging anything that Roxas, had he been doing it, would've smacked the person he was carrying straight into. "No, we have to keep you off of that leg."

Roxas attempted protesting again, "You're over-reacting an-"

"No," Axel said, placing a soft finger onto Roxas's lips, silencing him. Axel smiled to himself as Roxas quieted down as he was placed onto the couch. "I'll go get the first aid kit," Axel said before moving to the kitchen to search through their cupboards.

"You're nothing but trouble," Roxas muttered as Butterskotch came into view from the other side of the couch.

Just as Roxas awas about to move Axel appeared from around the corner. "Fond it!"

"I can do it, you can go ahead and go home," Roxas mumbled, feeling awkward, mainly because he couldn't tell if he was about to burst into tears or confess his love. Neither would be good.

Axel shook his head and kneeled next to Roxas, he gently peeled back the jean leg to find a nasty bite mark. "You should probably still go to the hospital just in case," Axel mumbled as he pulled out the disinfectant.

Roxas looked out of the window, it looked like bad weather was approaching and it was late. He didn't want Axel stuck at his house. "You should really go home, Axel."

Axel shook his head again and otherwise ignored him. "This is going to sting bad," Axel warned before gently trying to clean out the wound. Roxas hissed and Axel stopped. This continued for the next five minutes as Axel cleaned the wound thoroughly. "There," Axel said as he threw away the dirty puffs he had used to clean the wound.

"It hurts," Roxas said with a pout, sounding positively miserable.

Axel, of course, did the first thing that came to mind, something he had done for Namine and Kairi, having taken care of them as he was growing up. He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss right above the bite mark on Roxas's leg. "That better?" he asked, completely unaware of the emotional rollercoaster he had sent Roxas on. Roxas blushed and mumbled a small yes, hoping that Axel would leave now that he was feeling better. Axel laughed a little bit and wrapped up Roxas's leg.

"There, all wrapped up," Axel said as he packed away the first aid kit.

Roxas inspected Axel's work, surprised at how well he had done it, "You do this often?" Roxas asked, tilting his head back so that Axel could hear him in the kitchen.

"Mom and Dad aren't around much, and never were, so with little kids in the house there are bound to be tons of accidents," Axel said as he came back with two mugs of hot chocolate.

'When did he make that?' Roxas wondered as he took a cup for himself.

"It's getting late, you really should get home," Roxas tried again, his pulse speeding up as Axel sat next to him.

"No,"Axel said, turning to face Roxas, "I'm not leaving you alone. Tina should be here in a few hours."

Axel smiled and covered Roxas with a short blanket so that the foot was still elevated and not pressured down by the blanket.

"Thank you," Roxas said, blushing into his hot chocolate.

"The pleasure is more than mine," Axel replied with a wink, feeling better.


	13. Memoirs

**Good Question: **Sorry this is a bit late. My cat spilled water on my keyboard so I couldn't write for awhile. But it's all taken care of now.

Thanks so much for the reviews, that was really awesome.

Special mention thanks to **TeeterTotter **for reviewing every chapter she read. Made my day.

Also; we are almost done with everything that even has a little bit of pre-writing, so after the next 2-3 chapters it'll be 100% new material, even for older readers.

**Chapter 13: **Memoirs

"It's nothing serious," the doctor said with a nod, filling out a piece of paper for them.

"What about the swelling?" Tina asked as she fiddled with the strap of her purse, hospitals made her uncomfortable.

"It'll go away in a day or two, I do suggest that he stays off of that foot for awhile. It's a good thing it's the weekend," the doctor said as he stood, holding the door open for Tina and Roxas.

"That's true. Thank you very much Dr. Diz," Tina said as they shook hands.

"Be careful now," Dr. Dix said to Roxas with a wink.

Roxas grumbled as he stumbled towards his crutches. Sure it hurt, but he thought they were all over-reacting.

"I'm sorry, maybe taking the dog in was a bad idea. Maybe we should find it another owner," Tina said as she helped Roxas down the stairs and towards the parking lot.

"No!"

Tina glanced at Roxas, one eyebrow quirked.

"I mean, there's no need to kick the dog out. It was only a small bite, she didn't even really mean it I don't think," Roxas attempted to clarify.

Tina shrugged and looked suspicious but didn't question Roxas about the change of heart, helping him into the car. The truth was that Roxas had found a way to at the very least Axel besides himself, regardless of any romantic situations between them. Just mentioning the dog almost sent Axel to his side, he was a real dog person and that was kinda cute. He couldn't really understand the attraction to dogs, he thought they smelled, but he wasn't going to let Butterscotch go. They were all selfish reasons for keeping to dog, but hey, at least it had a home, and they were bound to get along better from that point on.

"Axel?"

Roxas snapped out of his thoughts and noticed they were home already, he looked at the door to see his aunt yelling at Axel from the car, who was standing at their door with a wide grin.

"Axel!" Roxas exclaimed with a smile he wished hadn't sprung up so quickly. Wasn't he supposed to be upset? 'Wow, I'm _desperate_' Roxas thought even as he tried to get out of the car quickly to meet him. He opened the door and fell down in an ungraceful heap, he had forgotten his crutches.

"Roxas!" Tina yelped out as she slammed her door shut, running around to Roxas's side, getting there only a few seconds before Axel.

"Mrr….. I'm fine," Roxas mumbled out, holding the back of his head with his hands.

"Can you get up?" Tina asked as she pulled the crutches out of the car.

"Ye-eaaaa," Roxas flailed his arms a bit as Axel picked him up off of the ground and into this arms. Roxas seemed to find himself in Axel's arms a lot in recent times.

"Don't flail so much, I might drop you," Axel joked, carrying him to the door and then waiting for Tina to unlock it. Roxas wasn't sure what had made Axel so obsessive over him recently, but he wasn't going to complain about it. The change from completely ignoring him to barely leaving his side was a welcomed one, if not slightly suspicious. Suppressing a sigh he sank his against Axel's shoulder, only to be removed from his arms and placed on the couch. Roxas gave a grunt of protest and Axel gently ruffled his hair with a laugh.

"I should take off of work for a bit," Tina mumbled as she placed the crutches next to the couch.

Roxas shook his head and tilted his head up and back so that he could see her, "No, don't. It's only a light swelling and the doctor said I'd be fine in a few days."

Tina looked troubled as she spoke, "I feel bad for not being home so much. Especially when you just left the rest of your family."

Roxas shook his head again," No. The bar is finally picking up some more business so it's only natural you have to spend more time there. I don't mind, at all. Im not 5, I can take care of myself, thank you tho'."

Tina opened her mouth to say something when Axel cut her off, "I can stay and watch him."

Both Roxas and Tina looked at Axel, Roxas surprised.

"Are you sure you don't have anything else to do? I'd hate to bother, and I'd need it the entire weekend," Tina asked as Roxas realized he was staring and went to focusing on the threads in his shirt that were coming loose.

"Yeah I don't mind. I'd only have to leave once or twice to check up on things at home, but other than that I'm free for the entire weekend," Axel said with a shrug and a smile.

Tina grinned and hugged Axel," Thank you. I guess I'd better go then, you boys play nice," Tina said as she headed out the door, prattling about emergency phone numbers as she left and where they were located.

"If you have somewhere else you'd rather be, you can go ahead and go," Roxas mumbled, trying to stop the hammering in his heart.

Roxas heard Axel chuckle before he felt the couch sink as Axel sat down next to him, "I can even get you out. Larxene's having a party and I'm willing to cart you along all night if you want to go. Besides- I'm not going leave you to fend for yourself? I had assumed that the car incident a few minutes ago would make you highly apprehensive to be alone."

Roxas snorted and blushed bright red, being ungraceful like that was the last thing that Roxas had wanted to do.

"Aaw, is Roxy-baby blushing?" Axel teased as he scooted closer, poking Roxas as he teased him.

"Shut your face," Roxas hissed as he hid behind his hands.

"You are," Axel said with a gigantic grin, pulling Roxas's hands away. It wasn't until then that Roxas realized just how closer they were. He looked up and had to hold his breath. _Oh dear. _

"Hmm?" Axel raised his eyebrow looking to Roxas like quite possibly the sexiest man every alive, and eyebrows weren't even a fetish for him.

Roxas fidgeted under Axel's gaze trying to calm himself down as axel whispered in his exposed ear, "What's wrong?"

Roxas felt a twinge in his groin and sprang up from the couch, forgetting that once again he needed crutches, and collapsed sideways off of the couch. Axel's immediate reaction was to laugh but he then knelt by him, worried.

"Sorry," he said with an embarrassed grin.

"Just, don't do that again," Roxas mumbled, burying his face in a couch pillow he had managed to yank down with him.

"Why not?" Axel inquired, but agreeing not to do it anyway.

"Axel, just don't," Roxas said wanting to drop the subject. He couldn't exactly tell the redhead what it made him want to do.

"Tell me," Axel said as he lifted Roxas off of the floor and back nestled into the couch.

"No."

"Come on."

"Axel," Roxas growled out.

"Please, with those sweets you like on top?"

"Axel, no!"

"What about a kiss?"

Roxas was about to yell out no but it died in his throat. He turned his head sharply, fingers shaking a little bit, staring at Axel wondering what he had just heard.

"Axel?"

"Yes Roxas."

"What did you just say" Roxas asked, gripping the couch with one hand.

"Nothing important," Axel said with a casual smile, getting up from the couch.

"No! What did you say?" Roxas asked, pulling him down again by the wrist.

Axel didn't say anything as he moved away, gently prying his wrist from Roxas's death grip, it was starting to hurt.

"I'm going to do my first check up on things at home, and then be back," Axel said as he grabbed his keys and a light jacket, it was slowly starting to warm up. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

And before Roxas could do anything Axel had left. Roxas let himself collapse to the couch with a frustrated scream. He couldn't figure out Axel at all, or where he belonged with him. He felt elated, despite all the bad. Roxas thought it was almost pathetic how some over-reacting hormones in him could temporarily wipe away even severe emotional pain. He sighed and curled up on the couch, taking care not to bump his swollen leg. And he didn't understand what the sudden seclusion had been about, he figured he would maybe have the courage to ask Axel when he got back.

He stared at the table for a few minutes before the phone rang. Assuming it was Axel, because that was all that was on his mind, he hurled himself over the couch, ignoring the sharp pain that erupted in his leg as it hit the end of the couch. He should've known better than to try anything graceful.

"Hello?" he said into the phone, breathless.

"Hi there!"

Roxas couldn't disguises all of the disappointment in his voice, "Hi Demyx."

Demyx paused for a moment on the other end, "Were you expecting someone else?"

"Not really."

He could hear Demyx laughing, "Your voice isn't telling me not really, especially with the mood we left you at."

"Okay… so I was expecting someone else, but for stupid reasons."

"Is it Axel?"

Roxas sputtered for a few seconds as he heard soft laughter from Demyx on the other end. He hated how easily everyone else but the person he wanted to notice could see how he wanted to be around Axel.

"How are things with him by the way, does he know that you saw well," Demyx let his sentence trail off.

"Things are fine, I suppose. And no he doesn't know. He actually came over earlier, returned the dog. And stuff happened, and now he's staying the weekend," Roxas mumbled into the phone, sitting down on the small stool that was next to the phone.

"Axel's over at your house?"

Roxas sighed, "Long story, anyway, I've gotta go."

Demyx didn't even have a chance to say a proper goodbye before Roxas dropped the phone back into its place. What was he thinking? The pain in his leg only made it worse for him. He clenched his teeth as he tried to get up to move back to the couch. A soft whine interrupted his efforts.

"Come here stupid," he muttered as Butterskotch waddled towards him, tongue sticking out, tail swishing back and forth.

"Good girl," Roxas muttered as he picked up the tiny dog and placed it in his lap. "You're the only one who understands me," he joked, before the dog barked hapilly, licking Roxa's face.

"Ew," Roxas said as he placed the dog back on the ground, wiping his face with the sleeve of his jacket. "But you know what, you're probably the best thing that's happened in awhile." Roxas sighed, slightly depressed and covered his eyes with his hand, leaning back in the stool. "Hey, can you keep a secret?" The dog barked as If agreeing. "I think I'm in love with him," he mumbled with a depressed laugh, "I think I love Axel."

A few minutes passed in silence as the dog whined, trying to get the now unresponsive Roxas to do something.

"See, I told you you'd grow to like the dog."

Roxas jumped and turned, eyes wide, staring at Axel. "I didn't hear you come in," he whispered, panicked. What if he had heard?

Axel having the timing of a turtle had narrowly missed Roxas's impromptu love confession. He smirked instead and lifted Roxas back to the couch again, dropping a bag into his lap.

"Ice cream!" Roxas exclaimed with such childish glee when he opened the bag up, that Axel had to laugh.

"Yeah, sorry it took so long, the line at the store was really long," he said with a shrug as he went to stuff all the things he had bought into their places in the kitchen.

"You didn't have to," Roxas said softly as he sat up on the couch.

"Oh but I did. You're here, in pain, and suffering," Axel said as he picked up Butterskotch from where she had attempted to bury herself into the pillows of the couch. "I had to do something, I don't like feeling useless."

Roxas smiled and gently kicked him as he sat down, "You do plenty. Mr Knight in Shining Armor."

Axel chuckled in a way that made Roxas's body tighten. Axel tilted his head to the side and put the full weight of the bright green eyes on him. "What did I Do to earn that title?" he asked with a flirty smile.

"I forgot," Roxas whispered.


End file.
